Northwest residents will have a chance to weigh in on rail safety when Committee hearings start in weeks to come

With the volume of rail traffic increasing along the CN Rail main line with every new terminal development in Prince Rupert, communities across the Northern mainline have begun to raise some concerns over rail safety.

That as they feel the challenges and issues that come with increased activity along the rail lines across the region.

The topic is one which Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach has highlighted a number of times in the House of Commons and now from those intercessions on behalf of the northwest, a chance for the public to make their concerns know is about to move forward.

Last week the Northwest MP announced that the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in Ottawa will be holding hearings into the issue of rail safety across Canada.

The date for the Committee consultation  has yet to be set and it follows on a recent session of the committee which received a number of speakers on rail safety in April.

The topic that day was a review of a Rail Safety audit from 2013 and noted that a large number of the recommendations from that study had yet to be put in place, with two identified for immediate attention.

The effectiveness of Railway Safety planning by the nation's railroads and how Transport Canada's own oversight measures have not demonstrated any improvement to rail safety in the nation.

Once the plans for the community engagement on the topic are announced, you will be able to access all the information related to the hearings from the Committees home page from the Our Commons website.

A rail crossing in Port Edward, that community has seen
a significant increase in the volume of train traffic as new
terminals on the North Coast went into operations

The issue of rail safety is one of significant interest for residents of Port Edward who have seen a marked increase in the volume of train traffic rolling through their community in recent years.  

And like a train speeding across the mainline, the prospect of even more trains to come isn't too far off in the distance now that the latest LPG terminal has gone into service on Watson Island and DP World moves ahead with its expansion plans for the Fairview Container Terminal. 

Looking even further into the future, the Prince Rupert Port Authority has many plans for its industrial footprints on Kaien and Ridley Islands and that all will bring more train transit into the region to service those new ventures as they come to fruition.

You can review some of the recent commentary on the issue of rail safety from our CNR archive page here.