Dear Members of the Advisory Panel and Secretariat

DEFENDERS

WILDLIFE

CANADA

PO Box 40001

Canmore, AB T1W 3H9

Telephone: 403-678-0016

Fax: 403-678-0016

April 9, 2007

Railway Safety Act Review Secretariat
180 Elgin Street, Suite 901
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 2K3

Re: Review of the Railway Safety Act

Dear Members of the Advisory Panel and Secretariat:

Thank you for this opportunity to address issues relating to the Railway Safety Act. We very much appreciate the information provided on the Ministry’s web site and the opportunities provided for public consultation throughout the country. Please accept these comments for the official record on behalf of myself, my wife Valerie, and the members of Defenders of Wildlife Canada.

We would like to raise two important issues regarding railway safety, particularly here in western Alberta. Each likely can be addressed by strengthening sections of the Railway Safety Act.

In light of the rash of toxic spills from derailments in recent months, how can water users in the Bow Valley be assured that our surface water supply is safe when so much railway track parallels and crosses the Bow River? Is everything being done to reduce the possibility of a toxic wreck? And what can be done to ensure an adequate and timely response when the unthinkable happens?

According to Dr. Stephen Herrero, one of Canada’s most respected grizzly bear experts, the Canadian Pacific Railway now is “the number one known source of grizzly bear mortality” in Banff National Park. The circumstances of train collisions with grizzlies and other wildlife raise a number of issues pertinent to rail safety. Can the Railway Safety Act be improved to address these circumstances?

Toxic spills and water quality in the Bow River Basin

Numerous derailments and toxic spills have been reported in the Canadian media. The water quality of lakes and rivers adjacent to railway tracks is threatened in every case. In the most severe examples, water is rendered undrinkable and residents and businesses dependent on that surface water supply must look elsewhere. Accommodation and cleanup costs can be enormous.

These recent headlines send chills up our collective spines:

Cancer-linked chemical spilled near Alberta lake, tests confirm

Derailed B.C. train leaking corrosive acid

Train derailment north of Vancouver

Fish kill seen from Canadian derailment

Ontario train derailment contaminates river with acid

The Consultation Guidance Document refers to these and other railway accidents. News reports tell of inadequate maintenance, inspections and enforcement.

From Lake Louise to Calgary, more than a million Albertans rely on clean water from the Bow River for daily household needs. The Bow River also provides for the needs of province's commercial and agricultural interests. But railroad tracks parallel the Bow River from Calgary west to British Columbia, and cross the river and its tributaries a number of times as well. In places, one can reach the river with a light toss of a ballast pebble from the tracks.

The image at left shows how the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks run close to the Bow River in a typical section within Banff National Park.

How can residents along the Bow River sleep at night while the nagging questions raised in these water polluting incidents remain unresolved?

Are adequate measures in place to prevent the kinds of spills into rivers and lakes that we have read about elsewhere in Canada?

Is there adequate maintenance, inspection, reporting and enforcement regarding these measures?

What toxic chemicals are being shipped in such close proximity to our water supply?

Are local jurisdictions advised when toxic substances are being shipped by rail along the Bow River?

How quickly and effectively can the Canadian Pacific Railway and local governments respond to a large toxic spill into the Bow River or its tributaries?

What would be the consequences of a toxic spill to drinking water, fish stocks, ecological webs, and local economies? Who would bear the costs?

We trust that these questions will be answered as the Advisory Panel and the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities continue this important review of the Railway Safety Act. Each of us along the Bow River seeks answers—and reassurance—regarding the safety of our precious drinking water.

Grains, trains and grizzly bears

According to Dr. Stephen Herrero, one of Canada’s most respected grizzly bear experts, the Canadian Pacific Railway now is “the number one known source of grizzly bear mortality” in Banff National Park. This is a shameful comment on one of Canada’s icon corporations operating in the country’s premier national park.

Over the past six years, Canadian Pacific Railway trains have killed four female grizzly bears in Banff National Park alone. None of the five cubs orphaned by these collisions survived to adulthood in the park. These nine grizzlies represent more than 10 percent of the park’s entire population of grizzly bears. Loss of reproducing females is particularly troubling.

Bear 72 and her cubs are shown in the image taken on May 17, 2005. Within two weeks, her female cub was killed by a train.

The recipe for killing grizzly bears and other wildlife in Banff National Park (and along the entire length of CP Railway tracks) is simple. Grain is spilled from leaking and defective hopper cars. Animals are attracted to grain between the rails for an “easy meal.” Distracted animals are no match for a two mile long train bearing down on them.

Grain spilling from a CPR car

sided within the Banff town site, July 31, 2006.

Grain spills from hopper car gates that do not close tightly. When trains are stopped, piles of grain are left between the rails. Moving trains drop so much grain that a lush crop sprouts along the west-bound route.

Significant amounts grain are spilled when grain trains are sided (stopped on sidings to allow priority trains to pass). We have heard that engine men are reluctant to leave a train sided in some locations (even for a brief “break”) because so many bears are hanging around waiting for a meal of grain.

When Banff Park staff and other knowledgeable individuals are asked where bears can be seen, many send visitors to the exposed slopes above the Trans-Canada Highway on the Banff-Yoho border (at Bath Creek). As many as a dozen bears—some with cubs—can be seen on a single morning. The “bear jam” at right shows travellers parked on the shoulder of the highway, watching bears on July 9, 2006. The black bear they are watching is shown at left.

Spilled grain can create a cascade of death between the rails. Some bears are so habituated to feeding along the tracks that they have been known to climb on top of grain cars, looking for grain spilled there during the loading process. Elk and deer also feed on spilled grain along the tracks. They are killed as well. Scavengers such as wolves and this coyote are killed when attracted to carcases left on or near the right-of-way.

Spilled grain represents an extreme hazard to grizzly bears and other wildlife, particularly in Banff National Park. It would be unthinkable for any railway—or any highway carrier, for example—to spill other goods along the right-of-way or public highway. Yet grain is spilled as a matter of course. Some hopper cars arrive at the export terminals totally empty. The Farmers Rail Car Coalition estimates that up to $10 million worth of grain is spilled annually from leaking and defective rail cars.

We respectfully request that pertinent sections of the Railway Safety Act be amended to ensure that defective and leaking hopper cars are not allowed to transport grain on Canada’s rail rights-of-way. Inspections, reporting, maintenance and enforcement should be used to ensure that faulty hopper cars are identified and pulled from service promptly. And repaired before they are put back into service. Failure to comply should bring string penalties.

In this regard, we also request that the Railway Safety Act be amended to provide for and encourage needed collaboration between the Parks Canada Agency and railways operating within the boundaries of our national parks. While there are examples of both the Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway behaving as good “partners” on occasion, their good-faith cooperation is absolutely necessary at all times when operating in Banff and other national parks.

The Act also should be amended to ensure—unambiguously—that railway operations are not exempt from all the laws governing activities within Canada’s national parks. Our park resources can be neither protected nor managed properly if railways—or other parties—think they are above the laws, conventions and courtesies that apply to all others. We have heard of incidents where staff of the Canadian Pacific Railway have attempted to intimidate Parks Canada staff in the performance of their official duties within Banff National Park (specifically regarding grain spills). We are certain you agree that this behaviour is totally unacceptable.

Thank you once again for this opportunity to contribute.

Best regards,

James Pissot, MSc

Executive Director

cc: Parks Canada, Bow Valley Municipalities