While Regina’s mayor welcomes recommendations made in the wake of the Lac-Megantic train disaster, he says it’s unlikely that rail lines will be rerouted around the Saskatchewan capital anytime soon.
Mayor Michael Fougere says moving rail tracks and yards outside the city would come at a tremendous cost.
“In a perfect world, if we were designing Regina, you might want to have the rail lines outside the city. But that’s a billion-dollar-plus proposition to do that, and I’m not sure any government is prepared to put money on the table to do that,” Fougere said Tuesday.
“So, what we have to do today and tomorrow is deal with what we have now, which is rail lines through the heart of our city, to make sure it’s as safe as possible.”
As Regina grows at a rapid pace, the long trains running through the city have been causing traffic snarls at busy crossings like the one on the Ring Road near Winnipeg Street.
Deputy Fire Chief Gerard Kay says, at times, emergency vehicles have to wait for a train to pass before responding to a call for service.
“(Rerouting the rail lines) would improve response times – we wouldn’t have as many level crossings to get across,” Kay said.
“It is something that is nice to have, but I’m not certain it’s going to happen anytime soon.”
Fougere said the city could look at putting railway overpasses at busy crossings, but the provincial and federal governments would have to commit funding toward those multimillion-dollar projects.
In a report released Tuesday, the Transportation Safety Board said a “weak safety culture” at the company that owned the train contributed to the derailment in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people.
Some 18 different factors contributed to the crash, according to TSB chair Wendy Tadros. Take any of them away, she said, and the deadly accident may never have happened.
The TSB made two more recommendations to improve rail safety in Canada, saying Transport Canada must:
• Require railways to put in place are more “physical defences” to keep rail cars secure and prevent runaway trains, including wheel chocks
• Conduct frequent, in-depth audits of all railways’ safety management systems
Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said department officials have the TSB report, which they will review before issuing recommendations for changes to Canada’s railway safety system.
Kay said Regina is well prepared to respond to a train disaster if one occurred in the city.
“We’ll carefully look at the recommendations from Transport Canada regarding Lac-Megantic,” he said.
“We’ve got our emergency response action plans in place to deal with any incident that occurs in the city.”
The TSB launched an investigation after the Lac-Megantic crash which occurred in the early morning hours of July 6, 2013. That’s when the train carrying more than 7.7 million litres of crude oil was left for the night about 7 kilometres outside Lac-Megantic, having been secured with a combination of hand and air brakes.
A drop in air pressure left the brakes unable to hold the train, which began to roll toward the town. The train left the tracks, caught on fire and began spilling some 6 million litres of oil into Lac-Megantic’s streets. The ensuing blaze and explosions killed 47 people, and left much of the community’s downtown area destroyed.
With files from CTVNews.ca Staff
