Well, the Canadian Pacific line up the Ottawa Valley avoided major population centres because it passed south of Ottawa through Smiths Falls. Of course many towns are on the railway lines. Many of the towns owe their existence to the railways, as did the town of Lac-Mégantic. So one cannot avoid population centres altogether.
The concern we have is there is such a concentration in such very narrow corridors. If you go east of Toronto, the only railway lines connecting east and west within Canada pass a few hundred yards apart through the city of Port Hope, and there are no other east-west routes connecting eastern and western Canada.
The derailment I mentioned, a very serious one that destroyed a bridge over the rivière du Sud in Montmagny, completely severed the only container route available to Canadian National between the port of Halifax and the rest of Canada.
This is partly to do with the effectiveness of our system as well as the safety of the communities. We've known about the dangers of transporting dangerous goods since the Mississauga derailment in the 1980s, and as was discussed earlier, there have been measures, mainly lower speeds and more automation in monitoring the correct performance of wheels, axle, etc., on the trains.
We just think that the abandonment of railway tracks in Canada for economic reasons should be counterbalanced with a government concern for the integrity of our national rail network so that we do have the kind of options the Transportation Safety Board is looking for.