MONTREAL,
July 23, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ -
Claude Mongeau, president and chief
executive officer of CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI), said Transport
Canada's Section 33 Directive issued today under the Railway Safety
Act will enhance the effectiveness of train securement procedures
and safety across the Canadian rail industry.
Building on its robust train securement policies for unattended
trains that are anchored on multiple safety defences, Mongeau said
CN will adjust its safety practices to comply with the
directive.
"The government's new safety rules will help to reduce the risk
of unintended train movements that can lead to catastrophic
accidents such as the one in Lac-Mégantic, Que.," Mongeau said.
"This rail accident, the most devastating in decades, will be
thoroughly investigated by federal authorities to determine exactly
what went wrong and what needs to be done to prevent such accidents
in the future. This tragedy is a sober reminder to the industry
that safety must be an absolute priority to prevent accidents from
harming the communities and the environment railways must go
through.
"Notwithstanding that accidents can always happen, the movement
of hazardous material by rail is handled with a very high level of
safety. The fact is that 99.99 per cent of dangerous goods moving
by rail arrive at their destination without a release caused by an
accident."
CN transports a wide array of products across its 23,000 mile
network. These are essential to the North American economy and to
communities across Canada and
the United States. They include
forest products, metals and minerals, grains and fertilizers,
automotive products, petroleum and chemicals, coal, and a variety
of consumer goods carried in intermodal containers. Any of
these products, including those classified as dangerous goods, can
be expected to move on any part of the CN rail network.
Mongeau said: "The safety of our operations and of the
communities through which we pass is of the utmost importance to
all of us at CN. The long-term improvement in our safety record is
being driven by solid investments in infrastructure, rigorous track
and train inspection, as well as a continuing focus on employee
training and safety awareness. We also work closely with
communities through TRANSCAER® (Transportation
Community Awareness and Emergency
Response), a voluntary outreach effort that focuses on
assisting communities to prepare for and to respond to a possible
dangerous goods transportation incident."
CN is a true backbone of the economy, transporting approximately
C$250 billion worth of goods annually
for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource
products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail
network spanning Canada and
mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the
Gulf of Mexico. CN - Canadian
National Railway Company, along with its operating railway
subsidiaries -- serves the ports of Vancouver, Prince
Rupert, B.C., Montreal,
Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the metropolitan areas of
Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth,
Minn./Superior, Wis.,
Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points
in North America. For more
information on CN, visit the company's website at www.cn.ca.
SOURCE CN