Tighter insurance rules for the railroad industry rank beside lower speeds for trains in urban areas, routes that bypass densely populated areas, and an accelerated phase-out of older-model tank cars used to carry dangerous goods as recommendations from Toronto Mayor John Tory and a coalition of councillors from the country’s largest city to Ottawa, as the councillors take their campaign to reinforce rail safety in the city to the federal government.
Tory and the councillors of several ward contiguous to the busy CP rail line that cuts through Toronto’s centre put their concerns into a missive to Transport Minister Marc Garneau this week, calling on Ottawa to put new safety measures in place.
Insurance has already been addressed with the passing of last year’s Bill C-52, the Safe and Accountable Rail Act, which instituted minimum mandatory levels of coverage railroad operators must carry, a reaction to the Lac -Mégantic rail disaster. Under the legislation, railways ferrying “significant volumes of dangerous goods” must be covered to $1 billion. Coverage must include the risk associated with a leak, pollution or contamination.
