New rail-safety regulations in place

Canada and the United States are hitting the steel to prevent future rail disasters.

The two countries have announced wide-ranging, new rail-safety standards.

The new requirements include a different braking system for new trains, a 50-mile-an-hour speed limit for certain trains and retrofits for old DOT-111 and CPC-1232 tank cars.

With three derailments in Northeastern Ontario earlier this year, Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus says the issue of rail safety is getting increasingly important, as we see more combustible materials transported.

“Coordinating with the United States is good,” he added.

“At the end of the day though, it really is going to come down to making sure that there’s independent oversight of the railway system.  Self-management, self-regulation just doesn’t work, it’s failed.”

“We need to make sure that the big rail carriers are held to a certain standard and I’m glad to see that new transport vehicles will be brought in because the old DOT-111 just didn’t cut it.”

The new standards will apply to new trains and also set a series of deadlines over the next decade for retrofitting old trains.

Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx are outlining the changes at a Washington news conference.

They say the changes are the result of collaboration on both sides of the border, with the goal of strengthening the safety of the two countries’ inter-connected rail networks.

The first retrofit deadline occurs in May 2017, for non-jacketed DOT-111 cars delivering oil and the last deadline applies to jacketed CPC-1232s in 2025.

(With files from The Canadian Press)