Now here is a scary thought. Imagine for a moment what would have happened if that had of been a unit crude oil tank train instead of a grain train. Envision most of 100 tank cars mangled and split open with huge fires raging and crude oil washing downhill into the Kootenay river, free to flow downstream for hundreds of kilometers.
Sound far-fetched? Revisit the Lac Megantic oil train disaster of 2013 where an oil train slowly lost brake pressure in the early AM hours and rolled unattended downgrade into town, where it derailed and piled up. 47 killed and most of downtown destroyed in the inferno.
And so tell me again how pipelines are hazardous and not environmentally friendly, because I think I may have missed the point somehow, though I guess our government believes it. Oh for sure the newer double-wall tank cars are safer and all that nice sounding stuff. But we are kidding ourselves if we think for a moment that they will make rail transportation of flammable goods perfectly safe, because they won't. Just IMO.
Rod
