CBC News Posted: Aug 20, 2013 5:36 AM PT
Just six weeks after a devastating train derailment and explosion in
Quebec, one of Canada's major rail line operators is cutting more than
half its safety inspectors in one B.C. Interior city. Four of seven Canadian Pacific Railway inspectors, or 'Carmen', based
in Cranbrook have been given layoff notices, and union official Bob
Fitzgerald says that is a major safety concern — especially given what
happened in Quebec on July 6. "The quality of inspections and the frequency have got to decline,"
he said. "CP would be wise to take heed: what happened there — clearly,
it can happen anywhere. They should think about that." Fitzgerald said the outcome of a derailment in the region could be
especially poor considering some of the trains that move through
Cranbrook carry highly toxic material to the smelter in Trail. Canadian Pacific, which is purging up to 6,000 workers in the next
few years in an attempt to become profitable, did not want to comment on
the Cranbrook layoffs specifically. A company official did say in an email message that operating safely has been and will always be the company's main priority. Last week, the province of Quebec added CP to a list of defendants
that it says are responsible for paying for the cleanup of the disaster
area in Lac-Mégantic, Que., and lawyers representing victims of the
disaster named Canadian Pacific in a class-action suit. Both suits allege CP bears some of the responsibility for the deadly
derailment, as it was the main contractor that handed over
responsibility for the crude oil tankers to the smaller Montreal, Maine
& Atlantic Railway Ltd., which then operated the tanker train that
jumped the tracks in Lac-Mégantic on July 6. The disaster killed 47 people and prompted a mass evacuation, a
criminal investigation, lawsuits, and concerns that the community of
6,000 might have to abandon its downtown core.
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