Self-regulated railway industry was a disaster waiting to happen....
Behind the bickering over the latest round of cuts to railroad regulation and safety inspections, however, is a broader issue. In 1999 the Liberal government of the day deregulated Canada's railroads by amending the Railway Safety Act to implement Safety Management Systems (SMS). This change eliminated the role of Transport Canada in the oversight of railroads, and passed the onus onto the individual companies to regulate themselves.
A 2007 report from the Canada Safety Council raised the alarm about the dangers of this approach and called Canada's railway network a disaster waiting to happen, arguing that the government should return oversight to Transport Canada.
Deregulation "allows rail companies to regulate themselves, removing the federal government's ability to protect Canadians and their environment, and allowing the industry to hide critical safety information from the public."
The report found major safety issues and frequent derailments, and even spills of oil and other hazardous substances, were common. One rail company, believed to be CN, was singled out for having "a truly dismal safety record."
The Tyee
The Real Tragedy of Lac-Mégantic
Ethan Cox, Today, TheTyee.ca
(h/t Dan Lynch via FB)
More neoliberalism at work.
3 comments:
This was last summer right down the road from me:
http://wamu.org/news/morning_edition/12/08/21/csx_train_derails_in_ellicott_city_two_confirmed_dead
The bridge there looks like it was constructed 100 years ago....
This will be spun into a reason to build Keystone Pipeline.
Trains are more dangerous than pipelines.
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