Recent spills leaving fires burning for days and extensive damage from two derailed tanker trains carrying oil in northern Ontario have renewed concerns in municipalities around the province, including Hamilton, where potentially hazardous cargo frequently passes through the city by rail.
But after blasting Transport Canada for "wasting our time" last summer, Hamilton Coun. Sam Merulla has backed off his call for rail companies to share daily, real-time information about what they're shipping through the city.
'I understand that the movement of goods is a priority, but the protection of the public should surpass that priority.'- Coun. Sam Merulla
Instead, Merulla is content with what information-sharing policies the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs has negotiated with Transport Canada and the rail industry. Hamilton Fire Dept. Chief Rob Simonds also deferred comment to the national fire chiefs group.
Still, concerns of a similar risk in Hamilton remain, Merulla said. "That's not altered in any way."
Collaboration on sharing information must be strong between the rail industry and the communities the rails go through, said Brant County fire chief and president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, Paul Boissonneault.
"That was a piece that was greatly lacking within the railway industry and municipalities" when the Lac-Megantic disaster happened, he said.
Now, Hamilton's emergency planners can look at the annual and quarterly data of what's shipped through Hamilton regularly and develop plans for how to confront an emergency related to that substance or cargo, even if they don't know exactly when a particular material will be coming through.
Then, should a spill or crash take place, first responders can call Transport Canada's CANUTEC emergency support and immediately find out what was on that train.
'The availability of real-time information should not change how municipalities prepare for an incident involving dangerous goods'- Ben Stanford, Transport Canada
That immediacy is one of the most encouraging changes after Lac-Megantic disaster, Boissonneault said.
Boissonneault said he understands why some cities are still calling for real-time data. But he questioned what a local fire chief could really do with that information.
"What would you do with real time data? Would you go park a truck down there? Ensure that if anything happened you'd be first on scene?" he said.
Transport Canada spokesman Ben Stanford said the requirements for railways to disclose data on the quantity and type of goods they transport through each place are enough.
"The availability of real-time information should not change how municipalities prepare for an incident involving dangerous goods," Stanford said.
Merulla said he defers to the expertise and advocacy of the fire chiefs group. But he said in weighing business and privacy concerns for rail companies, the priority must be on protecting the public.
"I understand that the movement of goods is a priority, but the protection of the public should surpass that priority," Merulla said.
Four crude tanker trains derailed in the last month across North America, two in Northern Ontario. The cars involved in the Ontario crashes were carrying crude from Alberta oil sands, not the Bakken crude that exploded in the Lac-Megantic tragedy. The cars themselves met federal safety standards, but they still punctured and exploded.
Transport Canada has in recent months proposed new upgrades to tanker cars and higher insurance requirements. Concerns have been raised by other communities where the material passes through.
At least nine freight trains pass through Hamilton every day. Numbers released to the Hamilton Fire Department last year show that at least seven out of every 100 rail cars have hazardous material that can explode, spill or seep into the water table, including gasoline, chlorine and sulfuric acid.
Those numbers are likely still current, said Hamilton Fire spokesman Claudio Mostacci. "To our knowledge there has been no change in the composition of the rail traffic in our community."
The derailments have fuelled the debate over transporting oil by rail and prompted the transportation ministers of Ontario and Quebec to express concern to their federal counterpart.
Last week, Ottawa proposed tough new standards for rail tank cars used to transport crude oil that would phase out the much-criticized Class 111 tank cars by 2025.
The proposal would require the new tank cars to have outer "jackets," a layer of thermal protection, and thicker steel walls.
The Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday the proposed standards "look promising," but must be implemented more quickly than suggested "given initial observations of the performance" of the upgraded Class 111 in recent derailments.
"If older tank cars, including the (upgraded cars), are not phased out sooner, then the regulator and industry need to take more steps to reduce the risk of derailments or consequences following a derailment carrying flammable liquids," it said.
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