Evidence of meeting #9 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bnsf.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Associate General Counsel, Operations and Regulatory, BNSF Railway Company
I don't have that information. Johan or any of the folks in Seattle, do you have it?
Executive Director, Government Affairs, BNSF Railway Company
We could only guess at what that cost would be. I think it's safe to estimate it would cost in hundreds of millions of dollars, or even billions.
You have to recognize that you're talking about major trade infrastructure. It's no more easy to move a railway than it is to move a seaport, or an airport, or a major highway. You have to deal with all of the additional issues you may encounter wherever it is you may move that, particularly in the lower B.C. mainland. You have a lot of agricultural land. You have a lot of residential areas that are being developed.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
I'm aware of that, and in the interest of getting a few more questions on the table, we'll cut you off there. Sorry about that.
Along your existing corridor, have you had to lower speed because of more challenging conditions, especially climate related ones?
Associate General Counsel, Operations and Regulatory, BNSF Railway Company
We gauge the track speed based upon the conditions that exist, and those change from time to time. If there is a need for maintenance at a particular time, we'll reduce the speed to allow that to be done. Are you talking about a systemic reduction in the speed limits there? Is that what you're asking?
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Yes. Have you, over time, had to progressively lower the speed of your operations along that corridor?
Associate General Counsel, Operations and Regulatory, BNSF Railway Company
Our operations guy would probably know that. I don't know.
Executive Director, Government Affairs, BNSF Railway Company
I don't know that we've substantially lowered them, but I can tell you that speeds in this area average between about 15 miles per hour and 35 miles per hour. I think that would be pretty typical year in and year out.
Courtney Wallace Regional Director, Public Affairs, BNSF Railway Company
I think one thing to remember is that just because the track speed may be a certain number or a certain limit, that doesn't necessarily mean the train is going that speed. The train speeds may vary. There may be a speed limit of 35 miles per hour, but that doesn't mean the freight train is going that fast.
Liberal
Regional Director, Public Affairs, BNSF Railway Company
Correct. More often it is less.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
If there's a rule that says a crossing can't be blocked for more than five minutes, what kind of crewing do you have in place to effectively brake the train at that point to allow emergency vehicles to get back and forth?
Executive Director, Government Affairs, BNSF Railway Company
I think our general manager, Jared Wootton, can probably address that most directly.
Jared Wootton General Manager, Operations, BNSF Railway Company
The events that we have discussed and mentioned here today are typically anomalies that are mechanical-type failures, and/or service interruptions resulting in that.
We do not have people stationed all over the railroad to be at each crossing. We do have crew vans and other resources to help deploy immediately when a service interruption occurs in order to expedite the opening of that location.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
You guys signed on to the stopped train protocol. Is that correct? Did you participate in the creation and the signing of this?
General Manager, Operations, BNSF Railway Company
I did not participate in the creation and signing of this, but we are fully supportive of it, yes.
Liberal
General Manager, Operations, BNSF Railway Company
The railroad did sign on to the protocol. Yes. Not me specifically. I apologize.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Oh, no. I understand that.
I guess the question then becomes if you signed on to it, then why are there all of the problems that our colleagues in the fire department point to where it's not being followed?
General Manager, Operations, BNSF Railway Company
I did see a single event that occurred when we did not comply with the stopped train protocol. We did follow up with all of those individuals who were involved in that exception. Since then the exception has not occurred, and to my knowledge that exception has occurred only once, when the protocol was not followed as far as notification is concerned.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Chief Garis, is that your understanding of the situation?
Fire Chief, Surrey Fire Service, City of Surrey
That would not be correct. Our evidence suggests that in six crossing events that met the threshold since 2010, the stopped train protocol was not followed to brake the train.
As I mentioned to you before, Transport Canada is investigating the most recent one. We have been advised that we did not have sufficient evidence, which we now do have. We have photographic, videotaped evidence, and Transport Canada is investigating that incident.
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
I particularly appreciate hearing from the fire chiefs. I had recommended my fire chiefs as well, and I know you confer across the country regularly, so it's good to hear from you.
The concern is even greater in my city of a million people, as my riding of Edmonton—Strathcona has essentially become a parking lot for tanker cars. My mayor is having to use two-thirds of his infrastructure projects to deal with backed up traffic because of shunted cars.
My question for the rail company—although Ms. Bennett may know the answer—is who decides where the shunting will be done from?
At the cottage I go to, all day and night there are dangerous cargo trains being shunted and backing up from a big trestle. That means they are blocking the only entrance and exit for our community.
If you have two trains coming from different directions, who makes the decision on where you're going to be manoeuvring those?
Lawyer, As an Individual
As to exactly where the shunting is occurring, I think I'd defer to what BNSF is required to do in its operations, but I can tell you that there are proximity laws, and the Canadian Transportation Agency will deal with any noise or vibration complaints that result from the shunting activity, and has dealt with them. But in terms of where the shunting takes place, that would be something that railway operations would be responsible for.
