Is CN Rail Safe?

A spokesman for the Canadian National Railway defended the company Thursday after the seventh derailment in one month, saying the company has the best accident record compared to other rail lines in North America.

"Our safety performance compares favourably with the rest of the industry," said Mark Hallman. He was commenting after a train derailed Wednesday night between Chilliwack and Abbotsford, B.C., and 10 cars spilled dry sulphur near the Fraser River.

...

On Aug. 3, a CN train came off the tracks and spilled hundreds of thousands of litres of bunker oil and toxic wood treating oil along the shore and into Lake Wabamun, west of Edmonton.

Two days later, another CN train bound for Prince George, B.C., derailed over the Cheakamus Canyon near Squamish, dumping more than 40,000 litres of highly corrosive sodium hydroxide into the river. Thousands of fish and other wildlife were killed.

...

While the company has suffered more than 70 derailments so far this year compared to 49 in the same period last year, Hallman said the figures are misleading because the statistics from this year also include those of B.C. Rail.

That company was acquired by CN last July.

news.yahoo.com...

Ah yes, they must be extremely safe.

Related:

Sulphur Train Derailed
CN Rail Safety Probed

Wabamun Water Line
Wabamun cleanup continues
Wabamun cleanup raises health concerns
4 Removed from their homes
Derailment spilled cancer-linked chemical


Company Website
www.cn.ca...

Discussing Wabamun


Facts

Has 19,300 route-miles of track in Canada and the United States
Earned CDN$6.5 billion in revenue in 2004
Employed an average of 22,470 people in Canada and the United States.

Source


So are they safe, or is this a little bit too much bad news for the rail giant?

[edit on 2-9-2005 by Dulcimer]

Well it sorta seams weird that all of them happened upnorth. There hasn't been a major CN derailemnt in the states as of yet (that i know of).

I see CN all the time by my house. I live less then a mile from the main North/South lines out of detroit.

I defently want to see what there probe finds out.

Zintac