"It's Crucial"

The disaster of Lac-Megantic, Quebec is raw. Only yesterday for the first time did police permit reporters to enter the area of impact, in a guided tour which warned beforehand that what they were about to see would be hard to take. Roughly 60% of the area has been sifted through, and 38 bodies found; another dozen to go, but it is difficult and dangerous to remain for too long in the deadly fumes and overwhelming heat of the area.

The town saw a large number of curiosity-seekers on the week-end, people compelled by their fascination of disasters to see with their very own eyes what news media may have failed to convey.

Work continues at the crash site of the train derailment and fire Tuesday, July 16, 2013 in Lac-Mégantic, Que.
(Ryan Remiorz/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

In fact, some of the media personnel who have direct ties with the town because they live and work locally, say that despite their pain in touring the area, they would never have been able to imagine the affecting depth of the calamity without being witness to its after-effects. They slowly looked about them, conscious all the while that there were still the dead whose remains were waiting to be discovered by those working on their hands and knees for that very distinct purpose.

Transportation Board Chairman Wendy Tadros has advised that safety records of individual train companies are to be published. Those train companies feel concerned with the possibility that the federal government may over-react, calling for additional regulations for their industry to observe. She added, speaking with reporters, that it has been her experience that the investigation of crashes conclude with the understanding that they are never determined to be the fault of a single person. The cause/s are cumulative in nature, and not confined to a narrow spectrum.

Canadian short line rails are subject to the very same regulations that larger, Class I railroads must observe. Some enjoy a better safety record than others. But on the whole, rail transportation has significantly improved its safety record over the past decade. "I would put my safety record beside any other Class I railroad's safety record", said Mario Brault, president of Genesee & Wyoming Canada Inc whose railways move over 150,000 carloads of steel, lumber and additional commodities across Canada on 2,100 or so of track.

Canadian short-line rail companies, he claims, are safer than the larger railroads. He cites more face-time with employees, trains that move at a slower pace resulting in less likelihood of a major line derailment. "Smaller sometimes is better. I wouldn't be shy at all to make comparisons", he said. And he hopes that federal regulators would consider the tragic accident last week-end in Quebec a truly isolated one -- and, representing the single most catastrophic rail accident in Canadian history, it must qualify -- and not result in unnecessary regulations whose effect would impede commerce.

Railroads have historically linked the country from sea to sea to sea. They were vital to local economies. But original cargoes like wood and coal and potatoes have been replaced by industrial commodities and dangerous goods. The towns that were once built around railways no longer have much connection to them other than general revenues that accrue to whichever province they are located within and enrich. The short-run trains just follow the tracks running through town, more frequently, with greater urgency, and carrying more potentially dangerous loads.

"As a community we used to have a direct economic interest from the railway. No more. Now there is much more inconvenience and risk than advantages. There are no advantages", said Michel Gilbert, Mayor of Mont Saint-Hilaire on Montreal's south shore. "It's a fair perspective that if there's no business for the train to conduct in your town, there is a diminished benefit. The concern here is if you said 'Not in my backyard' and if everyone said 'Not in my town' then you'd never be able to get anything moved'", commented Brigham McDown, a federal transportation and energy policy expert at Southlake, Texas consultancy United Transportation Advisers.

In Farnham, Quebec, where the engineer Tom Harding who drove the train at the centre of the Lac-Megantic disaster lives, the municipal council ironically passed a decree halting all transport by train through its territory until such time as federal regulators can prove safety. Three quarters of the 9,000 residents of Farnham live within 500 metres of the main rail line. "We're not in a position to reassure our citizens because we have the same information they do about what's coming through here -- nothing", said town manager Francois Glasson.

Reporters who walked along the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic's main line last week discovered loose spikes on the line, along with decayed rails. They aren't technical experts, however. And it's highly unlikely that just because a small town, concerned about the welfare of its citizens, declares its intent, that it can unilaterally declare the rail tracks running through its interior to be off limits to the rail company that owns them. Railways that cross provincial boundaries fall under federal regulation.

It is the railways themselves that exert controls over train operations. Towns are now demanding, and have been for some time, that they be given some say in the transportation process. "A lot of us would wish that rail lines would be outside our town borders. But we know that communities have been built around rail stations so that's difficult to address. In the short term, people simply want to know if our infrastructure is able to handle these volumes safely. It's crucial", said Eric Forest, president of the Quebec Union of Municipalities.