Dear Editor
The recent rail tragedy at lac Magantic Quebec, and before that, a plan by radicalized Muslims to blow up a Canadian passenger train, has brought into stark focus the immense destruction and carnage that derailments and terrorist assaults can bring. What about North Battleford? I've lived on Gregory drive for 41 years. The rail line along Railway Avenue West is about 40 yards from our house. Diesel locomotives pull long lines of cars west, and then east, a number of times during the day and night. What are they transporting? Wheat, to be sure. But the many black cylindrical cars dished in the middle are not likely grain cars. I don't wish to be alarmist, but I think they hold hazardous and even deadly compounds and mixtures.
One becomes desensitized over the years. After all, there has never been train derailment in North Battleford, or a terrorist attack. But wait a minute. Not too long ago, a truck slammed into a light post at the rail crossing at Territorial Drive and Railway Avenue West - about 200 yards from our house. Created quite a mess. What if a semi slammed into a train at the same crossing? What if it ruptured a box car containing a deadly material and caused a huge explosion. The prevailing winds are westerly. You guessed it. Many hundreds of our residents would be on Grave Street? Can't happen here? Yes it can. The rail tracks run a full mile from Territorial Drive west along Railway Avenue to 91st Street (only yards from residential housing), then right by the downtown city core, then along Railway Avenue east to the Frontier Mall.
All of us should be concerned. The rail lines should be moved so our citizens will be out of harm's way. Too expensive? No. In the wake of a tragedy, one can imagine that the resultant lawsuits would number in the tens of millions of dollars. Not to mention that you can't put a price on our citizens' lives. I concede that I haven't telephone or emailed CN. But I will. In the meantime, if you have a concern, email me at [email protected]. The more support I get, the more leverage I will have.
Richard W. Hiebert,
North Batteford
