Long Creek Railroad, which is a 70-kilometre short line railroad operating from Tribune to Estevan, has been saluted for its safety record.
The Western Canadian Short Line Railway Association (WCSLR) recently awarded Long Creek Railroad the 2020 safety award in the division of haulage for under 1,000 cars. Long Creek Railroad board president Adriaan Lievaart was on hand to receive this award at the quarterly meeting of the WCSLRA
Lievaart said they were recognized for their safety record since they opened.
“It’s been almost 10 years of doing anything from a few hundred railcars a year to upwards of a thousand (cars) and over, and we’re quite proud that we have some really good people,” said Lievaart.
Staff members include locomotive engineer Lincoln Wanner, conductor Maggie Ward, track specialist Bud Rosiak and office administrator Tara Struthers. Three are full-time and one is part-time.
Long Creek Railroad has under 50 shareholders.
“Maintaining an almost perfect track is key,” he said. “That basically comes with just maintenance. Just simple things like repairing or replacing joint bars. A 33-foot chunk of rail, if it’s got a problem, they’ll replace that rail.”
All employees get their safety training and keep up with their tickets, regardless of whether they’re a conductive or locomotive engineer or with track maintenance.
“We try to maintain safety as a priority in the organization,” he said.
They also have two bridges in which they perform constant inspections to make sure they are safe, while tracks are inspected weekly. They physically walk the 70 kilometres of track every year to ensure they don’t miss any issues.
Lievaart said this award is a source of pride for all of the staff members. During the dry years, they’re always concerned about fires, so they have done their very best to keep the equipment in good condition. Spark arresters are used to reduce the possibility of wildfires.
“There’s always the chance when it’s very dry,” said Lievaart.
He also reminded the public about the importance of safety at all of its railway crossings. The train has the right of way, and the trains usually travel slowly, but they ask the public to take extra precautions at crossings. And it takes everyone, including the public, to make a railroad safe.
The railroad officially opened in October 2012. The main purpose was to provide producers an alternative that was once not possible to move goods and reduce truck traffic on the highways. Currently, the railroad also does business with storing unused rail cars as well as the offloading of fracking sand used in the oilfield.
Their office moved into west Estevan recently, and anyone who is interested is welcome to drop by if they want to know more.
The Western Canadian Short Line Association is a not-for-profit membership-based organization representing the interest of 17 short line railways across Western Canada. Saskatchewan has the most extensive network of short line rail, with 13 that operate and/or own a total of 24 per cent of the total number of 8,722 kilometres of track.
