Teamsters say it's time to plug loopholes following 10,000 incidents in last decade
One of the unions representing railway workers is lauding the federal government’s announcement that it is looking at new legislation to improve safety, calling it the “right thing to do.”
“Since the Railway Safety Act was amended in 1999, it’s disturbing how many safety rules violations there have been by railways,” said William Brehl, president of Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, Maintenance of Way Employees Division, and a member of Transport Canada's Advisory Council on Railway Safety.
Over the last decade, there have been more than 10,000 train collisions and derailments, said Brehl, an average of three a day. “Most are minor, some result in evacuations and even loss of life, and many are potential disasters with so many dangerous commodities being shipped around Canada by rail," he said. "For someone whose life is devoted to the labour movement, it is not easy for me to throw accolades at the Conservative government. But on this issue of public safety, the Conservatives are doing the right thing and we have to give them credit." "Will this legislation end all accidents and derailments? No, probably not,” he said. “But it may bring rail safety up to the levels we see in Europe and end this game of Russian roulette that Canadian railways have long played when it comes to public safety."
