Rail Workers Defend Their Rights and SafetyRailway workers continue to speak out to defend their rights and safety and demand solutions to deal with the extreme hazards they face on a daily basis. Four significant derailments of CP trains occurred recently. These derailments took place only one month after the death of three rail workers when a train derailed close to the Spiral Tunnels near Field, BC and plunged into the Kicking Horse River. Christopher Monette, spokesperson for the Teamsters Canada Railway Conference (TCRC) told the Calgary Herald that workers are raising concerns about the potentially dangerous effect on the trains of a recent stretch of bitterly cold weather. "Workers are telling us the trains are becoming harder to control in cold weather," Monette said, particularly for locomotives operating in especially frigid conditions and difficult terrain through the mountain passes. Monette also said another potential catastrophe was narrowly avoided on the same stretch of track through the Spiral Tunnels where the accident occurred that killed the three workers last month. The engineer of a 109-car grain train had to apply the emergency brakes to stop an out-of-control westbound locomotive. Rail safety is a matter of life and death the union points out but CP has failed to make any changes in policy since the Field derailment. CP is even fighting against taking precautions while the investigation of the causes of the fatal crash is ongoing. Shortly after the fatal Field disaster, Transport Canada Minister Marc Garneau issued a ministerial order. The order states: "When a train is stopped by an emergency brake application on a grade of 1.8 per cent or greater (i.e. mountain grade), immediately apply a sufficient number of handbrakes, in accordance with the attached Appendix A, before recharging the air brake system to prevent involuntary movement of the equipment." The Transportation Safety Board senior investigator James Carmichael confirmed that the fatal crash was not due to anything the crew did, and that the train started to move on its own. "We're going to try to determine why the brakes didn't stay in place," he said. The TCRC fully supported the order. "We can't be taking any chances until the exact causes of this tragic derailment are determined. You can't put a price tag on rail safety -- it's a matter of life and death," said Don Ashley, National Legislative Director of the TCRC. But putting a price tag on the lives of workers and public safety is exactly what CP is doing. CP Rail has appealed the order, claiming the application of handbrakes, "introduces additional risks and will have unintended consequences" without clarifying what those consequences may be or what should be done in the meantime. The Railway Association of Canada representing companies involved in the sector and CN itself are also appealing the Ministerial Order. Rail workers have direct experience with operating conditions in addition to having access to scientific opinion through their union. They are in the best position to assess whether a measure will enhance safety or not. CP has dismissed the informed conclusions of the workers about this particular precaution of applying handbrakes without presenting a shred of evidence as to why the measure should not be taken. Canadians should raise their voices in solidarity with rail workers who continue to defend their safety and that of the public within the rail industry.
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
The most recent
string of
four derailments began on February 28, when a freight train
hauling
grain and empty automobile carriers left the tracks just west of
the
Banff Alberta town site. The next day, more than two dozen cars
of a CP
train carrying grain and potash derailed just south of Carlos,
Minnesota, and on March 2, a number of cars
carrying diesel and grain left the rails as they crossed a bridge
over
the Kicking Horse River, in virtually the same spot where the
three
workers were killed in January. On March 9, another train
derailed near
the Ogden Yards in Calgary with multiple train cars leaving the
tracks.