More rail cars carrying flammable material
Oil and other petroleum products being loaded on to B. C. trains like never before, figures show
Railcar shipments of oil to B. C. have been dwarfed by shipments of other potentially dangerous petroleum products, new Transport Canada figures compiled for The Vancouver Sun show.
There were 3,381 railcar shipments of oil to B. C. in 2013, up from 41 in 2011, as part of a North America trend highlighted by last July’s deadly Lac-Megantic crash in Quebec. During the same period, the number of railcars to B. C. containing other petroleum products such as liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, diesel, propane and aviation fuel increased to 39,540 from 30,613.
Although the increase in oil shipments by rail has captured the public spotlight, the fact is that far more other types of flammable and dangerous goods are coming through the province.
Liquefied petroleum gas — not crude oil — caused a spectacular fire on a B. C.- bound CN train last October in Gainford, Alta. Nine cars carrying liquid petroleum derailed, with three catching fire. The four derailed cars carrying crude oil remained intact with no leaks.
And last January, near Plaster Rock, N. B., a CN freight train hauling crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas derailed, sparking a fire that burned for several days.
Burnaby councillor Sav Dhaliwal, first vice- president of the Union of B. C. Municipalities, said in response Wednesday that the Transport Canada figures represent a “huge jump” and only reinforce his long- standing concerns about the railways.
“We’re not at all comfortable with what’s happening with rail safety,” he said in an interview. “There’s not an emphasis by the railways and federal government to make huge progress.”
Transport Canada issued a “protective direction” in November 2013 that was agreed to by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Railway Association of Canada and the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs. The direction requires railways to share dangerous goods data with municipalities and first responders once municipalities designate an Emergency Planning Official, provide their contact information to Transport Canada, and complete a non- disclosure agreement.
Dhaliwal said the protective direction represents a step forward but complained that it only requires railways to provide municipalities information months after the fact, not in advance of movements of dangerous goods. “Accidents don’t happen every day, but it takes only one to create havoc,” he said. “In this day and age we should be able to pinpoint every car ... to say what’s inside.”
He noted that a coal train spill on CN tracks near Burnaby Lake in January could have involved far more hazardous goods near residential communities. “That would have been a disaster for us.”
He added that local emergency responders in a community could easily be overwhelmed in a major rail disaster due to lack of resources.
The latest Transport Canada figures come about a week after The Sun revealed that train derailments jumped 20 per cent to 110 incidents last year in B. C., the highest in five years.
CN spokesman Mark Hallman said he could not comment directly on the B. C. figures provided by Transport Canada but said that CN’s “carloadings of petroleum and chemicals” system- wide in Canada and the U. S. increased three per cent in 2013 over 2012.
A wide range of commodities are included in those numbers, including chemicals and plastics, refined petroleum products, natural gas liquids, crude oil and sulphur.
CN’s petroleum and chemical revenues in 2013 totalled $ 1.94 billion compared with $ 1.64 billion in 2012. He attributed the increased shipments of crude oil and propane, freight rate increases, a higher fuel surcharge due to long haul volumes, and the weaker Canadian dollar.
Hallman noted that about “99.9” per cent of CN rail movements of dangerous goods arrive at their destination without accident.
CP spokesman Ed Greenberg said the company responds to “shipping requirements of our customers” meeting consumer demands. “Under the common carrier obligation, railways are required to move products considered regulated commodities,” he added.
In April 23 this year, Transport Minister Lisa Raitt announced, in part, that about 5,000 of the least crash- resistant DOT- 111 tankers are to be removed from Canadian railways within 30 days. Another 65,000 must be removed or retrofitted within three years.
Among other railway accidents involving dangerous goods other than crude oil:
• Oct. 17, 2013: Residents in the northwestern Alberta town of Sexsmith were forced from their homes after four CN rail cars carrying anhydrous ammonia left the rails. The cars remained upright and there were no leaks.
• Oct. 7, 2013: Four empty tanker cars that had been used to carry jet fuel went off the track in Brampton, Ont. A CN employee suffered minor injuries and the derailment caused commuter delays for GO Train travellers.
• Sept. 25, 2013: Seventeen CN rail cars, some carrying flammable petroleum, ethanol and chemicals, came off the tracks near the village of Landis, in western Saskatchewan, in the middle of the night. A nearby school was closed as hazardous material crews cleaned up spilled oil. No one was injured.
• Sep. 11, 2013: Eight cars of a CP train carrying a diluting agent used in oil pipelines derailed at a southeast Calgary rail yard. There were no injuries and no leaks from the cars, which were left lying on their sides. More than 140 homes were evacuated briefly.
• July 27, 2013: A CP locomotive and seven tanker cars carrying oil left the tracks in Lloydminster, which straddles the northern Alberta- Saskatchewan boundary. Some diesel spilled from the locomotive and was contained. RCMP said nothing spilled from the cars, no one was injured and no evacuations were necessary.
• July 8, 2013: An ammonia leak from a train caused the evacuation of roughly one- quarter of the population of the small northern Ontario town of Gogoma. No one was injured.
• June 27, 2013: Seven cars derailed as a bridge over the flood- swollen Bow River in Calgary collapsed when a CP train tried to cross it. Five cars carried petroleum products, one was filled with ethylene glycol and one was empty. No spills or injuries were reported.