The Lasha slide sheds on CN's Ashcroft Subdivision just east of Lytton - 8 Sep 2007 Mick Hall.

29 November 2012

Move Tracks Out of the Valleys

Spences Bridge British Columbia - On 21 Nov 2012, a landslide hit a train on the CN tracks derailing five CP Rail grain cars between Spences Bridge and Lytton.
 
No known hazardous materials were released which could otherwise have detrimental effects on the Thompson or Fraser rivers and fish populations such as salmon.
 
This train derailment further outlines the need for the CN and CP railway tracks to be removed from the Thompson and Fraser River valleys.
 
The Government of Canada and the railways are acting negligently by operating or permitting the operation of railways along these rivers where it is known huge landslides, rock falls, and avalanches could cause train derailments.
 
To avoid landslides, the railway lines should be removed from along the rivers and built in safer areas such as tunnels through the mountains.
 
This would better ensure that toxic materials traveling on trains do not end up in salmon bearing rivers in which many British Columbians, such as those in the tourism, sport fishing, and commercial fishing industries depend on for their economic livelihood.
 
In the 1880s, when the railways were established, the Canadian government did not have the resources or technical expertise to build the railways in safer locations so that is why the rail tracks were built along rivers.
 
Today the government and railways have the resources and technology to tunnel the railways through the mountains in order to create long-term economic and environmental operating efficiencies.
 
Furthermore by removing the railways from the river valleys, the economy of these valleys would be greatly improved since most people can't stand the noise from the railways.
 
The unhealthy high pitched squealing noises and thumping sounds from poorly maintained railway cars, along with other railway noises deter people from creating businesses in the valleys such as tourism or real estate developments.
 
By removing the railways from the valleys, the railways would be seen, from a public relations point of view, as being a friend of British Columbians and the environment rather than being an unfriendly abuser of the environment and people.
 
If the railways cause an oil spill or other hazard materials spill into the Thompson or Fraser Rivers, British Columbians will be outraged for such corporate negligence when it is preventable.
 
All industries, including the Alberta oilsands, that want to transport hazardous goods by rail in B.C. should help invest in a new safer rail line to transport their goods to Asia.
 
James Kohut.
 
Editor's Note:  Let's just tunnel beneath ALL the mountain ranges between Vancouver and Calgary and be done with it? Geeze...