Derailment: CP Rail rep defends safety record to Revelstoke council

Canadian Pacific is doing damage control following the unusual derailment of two train cars on the track next to Victoria Road earlier this month.

The cars carrying grain somehow derailed on April 2, with one tipping over. No one was hurt in the incident.

CP representative Mike Lovecchio, who is based out of Revelstoke, gave a presentation at the April 14 council meeting and said the jury is still out on the cause of the incident.

“We are not at this point prepared to release a cause as we are still trying to determine [it],” he said.

“This was one of those incidents with numerous contributing factors to what caused those two cars to leave the tracks.”

Lovecchio said technical experts are currently reviewing evidence from the incident at the CP lab in Winnipeg. Once a cause is determined, that information will be reported to the Transportation Safety Board.

Lovecchio said CP’s safety record is the best in North America, with the fifth largest train company having the safest record for the last ten years, with its best corporate performance last year.

“We had people there [at the Revelstoke incident] immediately to do the assessment,” he said.

Lovecchio’s presentation focused on the legal requirements in common carrier regulations that require transporters to take on all types of legal dangerous goods.

It’s become a topic of concern particularly after the Lac-Mégantic incident in Quebec in 2013 when an unattended 74-car train carrying crude oil rolled downhill into the town where it derailed and exploded killing 47 people.

“Our goal is to keep the velocity of that asset, which we do not own, moving forward,” Lovecchio said.

“You need to know that dangerous good shipments are increasing. They now represent roughly 9% of all [CP] traffic. As volume has increased, again, our safety record has improved.”

There has been a massive regulatory change post Lac-Mégantic and should a similar incident occur in Revelstoke, the city’s fire chief is confident we will be prepared.

“The Revelstoke area emergency plan has been in existence for number of years now. We practice regularly,” Rob Girard said.

Mayor Mark McKee said Revelstoke dodged a bullet despite CP’s focus on safety as number one.

“It still keeps the community a little on edge with those commodities going through,” he said. “It’s a concern for council and a concern for the community. We’ll be making sure we are all vigilant as possible.”