by Arne Hansen

The St. Lawrence River appears healthy from CN Rail headquarters in Montreal, the water reflecting glistening sunlight. But it is the perspective of distance that fools you; living in the water itself are a few badly contaminated fish, inedible because of toxic chemicals. A salmon run has not been seen here for a century. The city drones on, a so-called vibrant hub producing goods and services for a global economy.
Sometimes called the NAFTA railway, Canadian National was privatized in 1995. It bought the Illinois Central Railway in 1999 to give it a continent-wide reach. Since then CN has bought several small railways and leased others such as BC Rail, which was privatized by the BC Liberals in 2003.
Since 1995, in efforts to increase profits, CN reduced maintenance, staffing and safety and the accident rate has gone up. By October, CN had racked up 70 derailments nationally in 2005, about three times the rate of Canadian Pacific. On the west coast, a CN car spilled 41,000 litres of caustic soda into the pristine, glacier-fed Cheakamus and Squamish rivers August 5, killing all aquatic biota. Tens of thousands of pink, chinook, chum and coho salmon, steelhead and trout died. The thousands of eagles arriving here in the winter may have few spawned-out salmon available in their usual feeding area near Brackendale, immensely popular with bird watchers and tourists from all over the world.
The dead fish of August 5 weren’t just adults passing through on the way to spawning beds; the kill also included eggs and young. The most optimistic tourism operators expect some salmon to become re-established in three to five years while steelhead are expected to take 40 years. The salmon brood years wiped out last month means that few salmon or steelhead from the Cheakamus tributary or the lower Squamish will be returning between 2007 and 2010. Other stocks will be affected for at least 15 to 20 years with attendant sports fishing closures. Hatchery programs are expected to be implemented although most people agree hatchery fish have inferior genetics.
Salmon at sea now may occupy sections of river sterilized by the spill when they return. No one knows for sure because this much caustic soda has never been dumped into a fish-bearing river before. Most spawning beds in the Cheakamus are not found in the river proper. The numerous blind side channels fed by underground streams have also been sterilized, the caustic soda bleaching everything. While the soda was quickly washed away, there is no longer any algae or plankton and young fish will have little to eat.
Local observers report that the ill-fated CN freight train was assembled at a siding just north of Brackendale; not in the way BC Rail employees had been doing it in the past, but to satisfy the bottom line. This train had 44 percent more cars than allowed under BC Rail, simply because it saved CN money. As well, the train had two dead-weight locomotives in the centre being freighted east. They were not being run, in order to save fuel.
Heading north through the Cheakamus Canyon, the driver powered through the steep, 2 percent grade, unaware that the mass of dead weight behind him was about to pop half a dozen cars off the track. The train engineer will probably be blamed for the accident by the Transportation Safety Board when company-imposed unsafe practices are the real cause. The train was too long and locomotives in the centre have to be running to be of any use, otherwise their weight pulls the train backwards on an upgrade and light-weight empty cars like most of the ones involved easily pop off the rails.
So what caused the derailment August 5? In short, globalization. When BC Rail operations were leased to CN by the provincial government two years ago, safety standards were lowered by CN. Also, there are no federal or provincial regulations limiting the length of trains. The longer a train is of course, the greater the chance of an accident. With three kilometres of freight cars and four locomotives, CN train engineers have a difficult job negotiating the toughest mountain terrain in North America between North Vancouver and Prince George.
In a quick PR move CN donated $250,000 to the Pacific Salmon Foundation; however members of the Mamquam Angling Association say that the foundation has made no commitment for salmon recovery work on the Squamish/Cheakamus. Another $81,000 has been given to the District of Squamish by CN for recovery work, which locals say will cost millions including damage to private property and loss of business. The company promises more money later but so far nothing about safer operation of its trains. The people of Squamish, which is billed as the outdoor recreation capital of Canada, are furious that CN won’t discuss safety issues.
When BC Rail was leased to CN, the people of this province were promised that CN would operate it safely. Instead we have a multi-national company working hard to maximize profits for shareholders while acting indifferently to communities like Squamish.

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The once-pristine milky blue Cheakamus River, coloured by natural glacial rock flour, had all signs of life wiped out when 41,000 litres of caustic soda was dumped into it. The August 5 CN freight train derailment is causing a lot of controversy in Squamish as the recently-privatized railway relaxes safety standards.