The horrendous derailment of tank cars carrying thousands of liters of crude oil and the resulting explosion and fire killing dozens of people in the small community of Lac-Megantic represent a further reminder of the dangers of transporting hazardous materials through populated areas. In addition, waves of crude oil were dumped into nearby water bodies in what officials call an unprecedented environmental disaster for the province of Quebec.
According to the American Association of Railways Rail, such shipments of crude oil have increased enormously since 2008 when 9,500 carloads were shipped. Last year, crude oil shipments topped 230,000 carloads. That figure is expected to jump again this year with first quarter shipments already at 97,000 carloads. On top of which, the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington reported that older, unsafe tank cars make up about 70 percent of the existing North American fleet — and that those cars will be on the rails for decades. These older tank cars have a service life between 30 and 40 years and the industry is apparently resisting the billion-dollar-plus price tag to retrofit them. As well, getting the new stock is expected to be a very slow process given the current back orders in the industry.
In 2008, a parliamentary committee investigating railway safety in Canada stated that it had “serious concerns” about delays and the manner in which railway safety management systems have been implemented by railway companies and the federal government. More recently, agencies such as the Canadian Transportation Safety Board and federal Environment Commissioner issued scathing audits raising safety concerns over the transportation of dangerous goods by rail. However, the Board and Environment Commissioner can only make recommendations to the government based on their findings. It is up to the government and the responsible departments, in this case Transport Canada, to respond to their recommendations with changes in policies, legislation and regulatory practices. Furthermore, it has been more than five years since the last federal comprehensive safety review of the rail industry. While a number of their recommendations have since been implemented by the government, the freight-rail industry continues to evolve particularly as a result of the above-noted rapid growth in moving crude oil by rail.
The primary problem is with the government’s past and current policy aimed at deregulation of the transportation industry, making it primarily industry’s responsibility to implement effective safety policies and practices. With deregulation and in light of the industry’s growth, there are fewer inspectors to carry out safety inspections and to follow up on corrective measures by employers where safety violations are uncovered. Moreover, the government relies heavily on the industry to police itself. Yet, as we have witnessed in Canada, the series of derailments involving dangerous goods in recent years, including that at Lac-Megantic, have demonstrated that greater enforcement and regulator activity is really what is needed. Otherwise, more such tragic incidents will occur with both significant human and environmental impacts. Be it rail cars or pipelines, governments have been far to slow to respond to the increasing dangers, suggesting that Canadians and Americans will themselves have to step forward and demand better policing and mitigation measures.
FROLITICKS 
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