Lac-Mégantic Support for La Coalition Rail Safety Campaign, Woods & Wetlands Group - Sierra Club Illinois Chapter
The citizens of Lac-Mégantic in Quebec, Canada suffered the horrific consequences of transporting high-risk oil on the rails on July 6, 2013. Nearly ten years since this sad tragedy, known worldwide, the population of Lac-Mégantic still mourns every year its 47 victims, as well as the loss of its historic downtown area that is still not even 50% rebuilt today.
Because of this completely avoidable calamity, La Coalition of Citizens and Organizations Committed to Rail Safety in Lac-Mégantic continues to fight relentlessly in an effort to preserve even minimal rail safety standards for its hard-hit community.
Our battle is now underway with the Canadian Pacific Railway that acquired the Central Maine and Atlantic rail line in 2020, which runs through our town and the region of Lac-Mégantic. The Lac-Mégantic Citizens' Coalition recently learned in January 2022 that this railroad company plans to run huge high-hazard flammable trains of two miles in length at more than 40 mph on their future railroad bypass as early as 2025, despite the fact this new railroad bypass will be built right in the middle of the Lac-Mégantic Industrial Park. This track will also cross several inhabited areas, impacting 186 private residences located within 500 meters of the new rail infrastructure.
The OESF Citizens' Coalition considers our catastrophic scenario similar to that suffered by citizens of the United States in the Lake County and North Cook County regions.
For these reasons, the Lac-Mégantic OESF Citizens Coalition fully supports La Coalition's Rail Safety Campaign, Woods & Wetlands Group - Sierra Club Illinois Chapter in its opposition against the merger of Canadian Pacific with Kansas City Southern, as well as a potential alternate merger with Canadian National. Dangers associated with transporting toxic and explosive hazardous substances on densely packed railroads in the United States date back to the turn of the century when the Pennsylvania Railroad first started developing and implementing federal controls.
Additionally, the Lac-Mégantic OESF Citizens' Coalition believes a merger of Canadian Pacific with the American company, Kansas City Southern, will have direct and indirect consequences resulting from increased transportation of dangerous goods by rail through Lac-Mégantic itself. In this regard, Canadian Pacific's recent annual reports to its shareholders suggest that its new transcontinental rail corridor accessing the deep-water port of Searport will cross all of Maine, Quebec (Lac-Mégantic), and Ontario on its way to Chicago, and thus become a North American rail transportation hub.
For all these reasons, the Lac-Mégantic Coalition of Citizens and Organizations Committed to Rail Safety is speaking out today in support of La Coalition's Rail Safety Campaign, Woods & Wetlands Group - Sierra Club Illinois Chapter. We stand together in opposition of a merger between Canadian Pacific and the American railroad company, Kansas City Southern, along with any other actions that will increase the number and length of trains carrying hazardous substances through our communities.
Submitted by Gerri Songer on behalf of:
La Coalition of Citizens and Organizations Committed to Railway Safety in Lac-Mégantic
Rogert Bellefleur, Spokesperson
robert.belefleur@axion.ca, (819) 583-7515