Canadian Pacific responds to announcement by Transport Canada
Canadian Pacific today welcomed Transport Canada’s announcement pertaining to older DOT-111 tank cars, but the railway expressed disappointment with the federal government’s incomplete actions around addressing human behaviour factors affecting rail safety in Canada.
“CP has been a vocal proponent of increased tank car safety standards and we applaud the Minister of Transport’s direction to eliminate the use of older tank cars,” said CP Chief Executive Officer, E. Hunter Harrison. “While we will comply with all the orders, I must again re-iterate that reducing train speeds does not address the causes of railway accidents, nor is it a solution to rail safety. Human behaviours are a significant factor and should be the focus if the goal is to truly improve safety.”
Canadian Pacific believes that regulatory changes that would support the use of inward facing cameras in locomotives to allow for compliance monitoring and instituting a program to reduce grade crossings to decrease the incidence of crossing accidents would be key contributors in further advancing rail safety in Canada.
CP has started the process of implementing the various aspects within the timelines required.