Thanks, Mr. Chair.
It appears that we have an industry that was almost involved with the birth of our country, because a lot of these rail lines and yards were established, probably, well over 100 years ago. As a result, we're dealing with four or five major issues.
Today we talk about the new Conservative government, but we might also talk about the old Conservative government, because back in the days of Macdonald, railways were given some very broad concessions in terms of what they could do.
We have talked about noise, and we have locomotive noise and we have noise of the shunt, when the cars are brought together. I guess both of those would be factors in waking you up in the middle of the night or preventing you from getting some sleep. The vibration system, of course, depends upon the type of real estate those yards are on, and, depending upon soil conditions, vibrations can travel any given distance.
Pollution, Mr. Chair, is a major issue. A lot of us recognize that many of the locomotives that are used today are very old. The engines certainly would not meet the new requirements that we're looking for in the trucking industry, beginning in the very near future. So I would think that type of pollution is something that might be looked at.
We are also talking about safety and the movement of dangerous commodities that I think railways have been fairly good in dealing with in terms of the movement. But I know that when they are within a few hundred yards of your home, it would certainly be an area that you might want to be concerned with, not only in terms of solid materials but also in terms of the movement of gases--chlorine and other materials are moved that could escape and cause very serious problems.
Maybe Mr. Jobin could comment on what he knows from other countries that deal with this. Could we use electric engines, for example, instead of diesel ones? Could we have special types...? You referred to rubber rather than steel wheels. Maybe you could give us some more information on what you've gleaned from the United States and from Europe.
I would also like to get some comments, Mr. Chair. When we dealt with the privatization of CN, we stated in that legislation that Montreal would be the headquarters of CN and it would be a very important centre of rail activity. I'm not sure if some of that activity could be moved out of the city centre, or way out in terms of areas with less population, but maybe one of the witnesses could give us his impression of what a railway company could do to move its works or to provide a better environment for everyone.