While neighbouring municipalities are expressing concern about potentially hazardous materials travelling on rail lines in the region, Woolwich won’t be joining the call for greater disclosure.
Discussing the issue at Tuesday night’s council meeting, Mayor Todd Cowan said the system is already transparent enough, with two large chemical companies in Elmira – Chemtura and Canada Colors and Chemicals (CCC, formerly Sulco Chemicals) – already disclosing what’s transported by rail.
“We’ve been proactive in managing the risks,” he said, noting that Chemtura’s been operating for decades.
“We’re the only municipality that can contact all of its residents within five minutes …,” he said of the Community Alert Network whereby citizens are notified by phone message of any emergency situations.
In Kitchener and Waterloo, however, councillors would like to see more information provided by the rail companies operating locally, the Goderich-Exeter and Canadian National Railways. In fact, Kitchener city council passed a motion Monday night calling for data to be passed on to the fire department. In Waterloo, the fire chief is the only one privy to that information, and he’s been sworn to secrecy.
Woolwich fire chief Rick Pedersen said he does not receive that information, nor has the township asked for it.
Train safety and the transportation of hazardous materials has been a top-of-mind issue in many municipalities following the train derailment and explosion in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, and rail bridge collapse and derailment during the flooding in Calgary. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which represents some 2,000 municipal governments, has struck a national municipal rail safety working group to study the issue.
For Coun. Mark Bauman, however, the system is already transparent, as trains are required to display with industry-coded signs what’s aboard each car.
“Every train car and every transport truck is required to have a placard,” he said. “There are no secrets. Period.”
Echoing Cowan’s statements, he said the township has adequate emergency planning measures in place.
“I feel as a firefighter that we’re prepared,” said Bauman, who serves as a volunteer with the station in St. Jacobs.
