July 6, 2023

It has been ten years since the Lac-Mégantic train derailment that killed 47 people.

The rail bypass has not been built yet even though $400M has been set aside for the project. CPKC rail will benefit from the bypass as it will be able to run more trains faster through that region, but is only investing $90M of that amount.

CPKC (a recent merger of CP and Kansas City Southern) now controls 20,000 miles of track from Canada to Mexico. KCS owns the privatized state rail service in Mexico. And, yet still the smallest of the major (Class 1) rail companies.

Regulation continues to be slow in North America. The rail companies have a lot of power and push back on any regulatory change that increases their costs.

In the USA, rail companies pushed Trump to remove regulations and standards for breaking and speed limits. Both factors were part of the reason for the Ohio derailment this year along with many others.

Rail accidents and derailments happen more often than most people know.

In Canada:

Freight trains accounted for 38% of all trains involved in rail accidents in 2021. Four percent (42 in total) were passenger trains, with the remaining 58% comprising mainly single cars/cuts of cars, locomotives, and track units (Table 3).

• Rail fatalities in 2021: 60
• 3 workers killed on an average year in the industry in Canada.
• 8 workers are seriously injured on an average year in Canada.

And, the frequency of accidents are slowly rising.

And, the number of derailments are steady.

We need more rail in Canada. More freight movement with rail and more passenger movement. But, that can only happen safely with increased investment in rail safety, inspection, and regulation infrastructure and workers.

Read more of the rail incidents reported on the Transport Canada site.

• 20% of Canada's traded goods go through the Vancouver ports.
• $800M worth of goods a day.
• Capital is already lining-up to say that the strike will "harm Canada's reputation" as a stable exporter of goods. 120 companies have written to Canada (including CN and CPKC) to demand back-to-work legislation.

It has been 4 days that ILWU has been on strike.