Close gaps in rail safety

Ottawa has done well in fast-tracking the retirement of older, less puncture-resistant, rail cars from the task of hauling crude oil. It’s one less worry for the thousands of Canadians who live near a busy rail line. But there remains cause for concern.

A runaway train, hauling 72 of these vulnerable cars, derailed in Lac-Mégantic, Que., a little over three years ago, and the resulting inferno killed 47 people. And while such cars will no longer be carrying crude, they will continue to transport other flammable liquids until 2025.

“The reality is that in this country we transport a huge amount by rail — hundreds of billions of dollars worth a year,” Transport Minister Marc Garneau told reporters earlier this week. “And you can’t do everything in one shot.”

Perhaps not. But it is possible to do better than expected. Federal officials proved that by successfully pulling the old, less-robust DOT-111 tanker cars from crude oil duty months earlier than expected. According to Ottawa’s original plan, DOT-111cars with built-in layers of thermal protection were supposed to quit hauling crude by March 2018. And cars without thermal layers were scheduled to stop next spring.

But Garneau was able to announce that both versions will no longer be transporting crude as of Nov.1. That includes DOT-111cars originating in the United States, which wouldn’t be allowed across the border.

Crude oil must, instead, be shipped in more robust TC-117 tank cars. Garneau said about 28,000 of the older DOT-111cars are currently in use, running between Canada and the United States. And it’s worrisome that other flammable chemicals will continue to be shipped in these aging tankers.

Given their success in removing crude oil from DOT-111s, federal transport officials should make every effort to hasten elimination of all flammable cargo from these vulnerable tankers. Another nine years seems too long to wait. A good way to proceed would be to list all flammable materials, in order of the most hazardous, and gradually ban each from DOT-111s, starting with the most volatile.

There’s no denying that solid improvements have been made to rail safety in the wake of the Lac-Mégantic tragedy. But more needs to be done. On July 6, the third anniversary of the catastrophe, this stricken community’s residents renewed their call for the building of a bypass line that would route trains away from the centre of their town.

It’s estimated such a detour would cost $115 million but, given the trauma endured by Lac-Mégantic, that doesn’t seem too heavy a price to pay.

One can only imagine the scope of the disaster had a similar derailment happened in the heart of a large city. That’s why more effort should be made to find alternate routes for shipping dangerous material still being routed through densely populated areas.

Furthermore, the rail industry should be required to share more information with residents about the type and amount of hazardous goods rolling through their community. Carriers are currently required to tell a municipality’s first-responders about dangerous material being shipped through their jurisdiction. Such information is shared on a strictly confidential basis, so that police, firefighters and medical officials can better plan for a possible disaster.

But residents living near rail lines — some with toxic goods routinely passing just metres from their backyard — also deserve to be better informed. If they ask, they should be provided a good general idea of what’s moving through their neighbourhood.

When vulnerable DOT-111 tanker cars have entirely stopped shipping flammable material, and additional rail safety steps have been undertaken, federal officials will truly be able to say they’ve done all they can to avoid a repetition of Lac-Mégantic.

Until that happens, however, their job remains incomplete, leaving people to understandably wonder if they’re receiving maximum protection.