CN Waiting for Letter From P.G. Mayor

Friday, August 17, 2007 04:00 AM

CN officials have not yet received the letter from Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley, but, says Communications person Kelli Svendsen, “When we do, we will act to facilitate his request.”

That request is for a Senior CN Rail Representative to appear before Prince George City Council and outline how the Railway will ensure incidents, like the one on August 4^th, will not be repeated. The Mayor says the City needs assurances that “the City is safe, the people are safe and the water supply is safe.”

Kinsley says while CN has labelled the incident the result of human error, he wants to hear what the Railway will do to reduce the potential for human error.

Meantime, Opinion 250 has been told by reliable sources that CN Superintendent Jamie Boychuck has been transferred to Chicago. CN will neither confirm no deny the information saying they do not discuss personal information about employees. Some informed sources claim it was Boychuck who was operating the trains “remotely” when the crash and derailment occurred. Again, CN will neither confirm nor deny that information.

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Posted on Friday, August 17, 2007 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: lunarguy on August 17 2007 5:47 AM

This is so stupid. CN if you wanted to be a good corporation in my eyes you would have had a delegation at the last city council meeting explaining things and then have a good long media question and answer question afterwards. Please lets give back the paltry amount they gave the city for naming rights to "CN Centre" and lets go back to calling it the Multiplex that your's and mine taxes paid for the building and the majority of the yearly operating cost.

Posted by: bohemian on August 17 2007 7:15 AM

Does the city not have e-mail or even a fax? This would seem to be the kind of letter that would be sent electonicly and followed up (if that's even necessary) with a hard copy.

Posted by: diplomat on August 17 2007 7:33 AM

Lunarguy, often enough it is impossible for any company delegation or official to go against the recommendation of company lawyers and discuss any of these matters in public.

Facts of life, legal issues.

I agree, Multiplex sounded better.

Posted by: Palopu on August 17 2007 8:38 AM

I agree with Diplomat. CN does not want to set too many precedents that would compel them to attend meetings with every Municipality that they operate in.

The are clearly Governed by the Federal Government and the Transportation Safety Boards, and all the information will come out during the investigation. Making some kind of assurances to the Mayor and Council may have some PR effect but other than than nothing.

The CN paid for the Signage at the Multiplex I suspect after the bad publicity they were getting for the purchase of BC Rail. It seems that due to a different set of circumstance they are still getting bad publicity.

Posted by: owl on August 17 2007 11:36 AM

"Does the city not have e-mail or even a fax?"

But then the official wax seal of the Office of the Mayor could not be applied.

Posted by: owl on August 17 2007 11:47 AM

Is CN paying for the cost to the City of providing RCMP services for the time required as well as the cost of City staff to attend to teh emergency situation?

I am not sure why a public meeting has to be had. I think a much more serious meeting should be held with Staff and Councillors in a non-political forum at which time some assurances in writing should be sought as to future conduct of the CN in this community.

Speaking about precedents - how does this community compare to others in Canada with respect to CN relationships and how CN has accommodated the needs of higher density areas they travel through? What is our level of risk in relation to the level of risk in other communities where CN has a major presence? Those are important to know. I would not want to discover that we are not being properly protected by our City Administration and government.

Posted by: Palopu on August 17 2007 7:13 PM

CN skirts the City of Kamloops, but the CP Rail runs right through the heart of the City, Dangerous Goods and all. This type of situation is the same all across Canada and the USA, very simply because the towns built around the Railways.

At one time not so long ago there would be enough Dangerous Goods in Kitimat, or Prince Rupert to blow these Citys all the way to China.

A number of years ago some Dangerous Goods cars (Propane Gas) in Kansas City exploded and flattened about 18 tracks of Rail Cars.

Posted by: Gofaster on August 17 2007 7:54 PM

CN is stalling...
again...
and city hall is falling for it...
again!

Posted by: myusername61 on August 17 2007 10:46 PM

It's interesting to recall the comments regarding safety made by CN just 3 short months ago, especially the last 3 paragraphs:

http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/5876/3/inland+container+port++on+track

Boychuk was even in attendance...

Posted by: owl on August 17 2007 11:02 PM

"we developed a foucs safety action plan and we live to it to a T"

Maybe too much tea for T and not enough S for Safety .....

What the heck is a FOCUS safety action plan anyway?

FOCUS is on safety? How does that differ from a SAFETY action plan? If it is a safety plan, why is the word FOCUS also needed?

Or why a safety ACTION plan? Is that to differentiate it from a safety INACTION plan?

Where did these bureaucrats go to school to murder the english language like that?

KISS ...... both in language and safety plans ....

Posted by: pulpworker on August 18 2007 11:40 AM

From a reliable CN source
Two weeks prior to the crash, the same person was running trains in the south yard with no air to the cars. No air...no brakes. The train got away on the guy. 3 others in the yard noticed the runaway, jumped on the train, hooked up the air and saved this guy's ass. The manager, who was known to neglect hooking up air to the cars, thanked these brave souls by writing them up for for jumping on a train moving faster than safety guidelines allow!

Two weeks later some managers noticed the same individual in the same situation. They let the train roll by, not wanting to get wrote up for helping out. When the train crashed, one of the managers went inside and called the police. police took the individual from the crash site in handcuffs.

To penalize the person for thumbing his nose at Transport Canada safety regs, and risking the lives of others, he is being transferred......!
That'll teach him.

Posted by: Chester on August 18 2007 2:40 PM

So, if what pulpworker said is true, isn't it about time to bust this manager's sorry butt. He hasn't learned his lesson yet. I prefer he learn it, but not at the expense of others. What does CN think? Chester