Rail Safety on Boundary Bay Opportunities and Challenges To: Surrey Mayor & Council February 2019 SEMSTAR: Citizens for Safety, Trade and Recreation on the Semiahmoo Peninsula
Four Pillars of Opportunity • Safety • Environment • Economy • Culture 2 Citizens for Safety, Trade and Recreation on the Semiahmoo Peninsula
Safety: Hostile Topology for a Modern Rail Corridor 3 Citizens for Safety, Trade and Recreation on the Semiahmoo Peninsula
Safety: Emergency Brake Activations Rail Failures on the South Surrey 24 th Ave. BNSF Track Curve 2010 BNSF report on Crescent Beach UDE toSurrey Mayor & Council: Jul 21 Aug 2 Dec 27 Dec 7 Jul 23 May 30 “…such failures occur Jun 26 Jan 5 approximately once per year system wide throughout North America, with the probability of this happening again at this 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 location being very remote". Due diligence Negligence 2015 Transport Canada email to the Mar 15 Jun 4 Jun 9 Sep 17 CBPOA: City of Surrey: Speed boundary Speed boundary BNSF: Implement operational Motion #2 for a proposed to: proposed to: changes to manage failures speed boundary BNSF Transport Canada “BNSF believe the noise and Feb 25 Mar 15 Aug 11 UDE: Undesired Emergency separation issues can be City of Surrey: BNSF: Studying Transport Canada & BNSF: Motion #1 for a effectively mitigated by speed boundary All failures occurred at the 24 th Ave track curve, blocking all Perform track speed boundary access to Crescent Beach. When a train splits in two, both working with individual inspection halves activate an emergency brake condition which locks locomotive engineers to plan the train in place until pressure is returned to the lines. UDEs are a contributing factor to train derailment. throttle and brake transitions very conservatively.”
Safety: Mud Slides Distribution of slides near 24 th Ave. curve Mar 29 Oct 17 Jan 29 Jan 4 Jan 28 Mar 10 2019 2015 2016 2017 2018 Jan 30
Safety: Three Emergency Access Points 6 Citizens for Safety, Trade and Recreation on the Semiahmoo Peninsula
Environment: Climate Change & Habitat
Economic: Shorter, Faster, More Capacity 50 10 minute travel MPH time Serpentine Trestle 10 MPH 21 MPH 30 MPH Citizens for Safety, Trade and Recreation on the Semiahmoo Peninsula
Economic: Vital BC Port Gateway to USA Train Count for 1 week in 2017 Day Night Day Night Total May 14 3 10 2 15 May 15 4 14 4 22 May 16 3 12 2 17 May 17 5 11 2 18 May 18 4 7 3 14 May 19 3 9 3 15 May 20 3 10 2 15 2005: 5/day 2017: 17/day 2027: ??/day Citizens for Safety, Trade and Recreation on the Semiahmoo Peninsula
Culture: Efficient Greenway linking SoF to Downtown • 50 km linear green path “Direct-Shot” • Connecting White Rock, Surrey, Delta, Richmond, New West, and Vancouver • Linking Stanley Park to the Delta Dyke and the *new* Nicomekl Riverfront Park • “Foreshore Parity” with Vancouver and Victoria for the one million living SoF 10 Citizens for Safety, Trade and Recreation on the Semiahmoo Peninsula
Appendix A: Train Failure Logs
Known failures since 2014 (1 of 5) Jun 2014 UDE: Mechanical / operational failure - Blocks all residential and emergency access to Crescent Beach. 2014/06/26 07:15 - 45 minutes. Aug 2014 UDE: Mechanical / operational failure - Blocks all residential and emergency access to Crescent Beach. 2014/08/02 09:35 - 180 minutes at McBride, 10 minutes at Beecher. Dec 2014 UDE: Mechanical / operational failure - Blocks all residential and emergency access to Crescent Beach. 2014/12/27 10:15 - 90 minutes.
Known failures since 2014 (2 of 5) Jan 2015 UDE: Mechanical / operational failure - Blocks all residential and emergency access to Crescent Beach. 2015/01/05 01:45 - 280 minutes. Jan 2015 Three slides from bluff cover track in 3 locations 2015/01/28 2016 – 2017 UDE: Mechanical / operational failure - Blocks all residential and emergency access to Crescent Beach. Mar 2016 Slide from bluff covers track 2016/03/10
Known failures since 2014 (3 of 5) Smr 2016 Tree from slope covers track and slide detection wire Mar 2017 Four slides from bluff cover track in 4 locations 2017/03/29 Jul 2017 UDE: Mechanical / operational failure Stopped train prevents an ambulance from entering Crescent Beach. 2017/07/23 – 7 minutes. Oct 2017 Tree from slope covers track and slide detection wire 2017/10/17
Known failures since 2014 (4 of 5) Jan 2018 Five slides from bluff cover track in 6 locations 2018/01/29 Jan 2018 Slide from bluff cover track 2018/01/30 May 2018 UDE: Mechanical / operational failure - Blocks all residential and emergency access to Crescent Beach. 2018/05/30 - 45 minutes. Jul 2018 UDE: Mechanical / operational failure Blocks all residential and emergency access to Crescent Beach. 2018/07/21 – 120 minutes.
Known failures since 2014 (5of 5) Dec 2018 UDE: Mechanical / operational failure Blocks all residential and emergency access to Crescent Beach. 2018/12/07 – 20 minutes, 140 minutes. Dec 2018 A slide and 2 fallen trees from bluff cover track in 2 locations Jan 2019 Slide from bluff cover track. Amtrak service halted for more than 48 hours. 2018/01/04
Appendix B: Slide Photo Archive
Slides (1 of 9) SURREY CRESCENT BEACH PROMENADE 24 th AVE ACCESS Jan 4 / 2019 Jan 4 / 2019 Jan 4 / 2019 Jan 4 / 2019 Jan 4 SLIDE Jan 4 / 2019
Slides (2 of 9) Dec 2018: slide w/ tree#1 Dec 2018: tree#2
Slides (3 of 9) 2018/01/30 : slide1.a 2018/01/30 : slide1.b
Slides (4 of 9) 2018/01/29 : slide1 2018/01/29 : slide2.a 2018/01/29 : slide2.b
Slides (5 of 9) 2018/01/29 : slide4 2018/01/29 : slide5 2018/01/29 : slide3
Slides (6 of 9) 2017/03/29 : slide2 2017/03/29 : slide1
Slides (7 of 9) 2017/03/29 : slide4 2017/03/29 : slide3
Slides (8 of 9) 2015/01/25 slide 1.a 2015/01/25 slide 1.b 2016/03/10
Slides (9 of 9) 2015/01/25 slide 2 2014/01/22 (one year earlier)
Appendix C: Supporting Record of Correspondence Mar 15, 2013 Meeting with Courtney Wallace and Jules Vanpopta (BNSF) The mitigation benefits of an expanded speed boundary to the community of Crescent Beach are presented by the CBPOA in a meeting with Courtney and Jules. The speed boundary request is recorded in the meeting minutes. Sep 27, 2013 Email from Courtney Wallace (BNSF) following CBPOA requests for an update: “We have taken your (speed boundary) suggestion under consideration and are continuing to study this.” Meeting with Courtney Wallace and Jules Vanpopta (BNSF) Jan 8, 2014 No information is provided regarding the promised BNSF speed boundary study. The speed boundary is again identified as an action item in the meeting minutes sent by Courtney: ”Review speed limits through Crescent Beach per our discussion.” Multiple follow up requests by the CBPOA for a status update of the speed boundary study are not returned by BNSF. Meeting with Michael Henderson and Luc Chamberland (TC, Head Pacific Region / Head Engineering) Jun 4, 2014 Identification of proximity issues at Crescent Beach and the proposal for a speed boundary extension to include the south beach track curve. Prior to the meeting, Luc visits the south Crescent Beach track and noted several beach going trespassers. Luc and Mike agree to either personally represent the proposal to James Titsworth at BNSF, or to arrange for the CBPOA to represent the proposal to BNSF directly. Follow-up emails are exchanged between the CBPOA and (TC) Marc Gringon and James Horbay on the speed boundary proposal and rail related issues. Marc 2015 represents the speed boundary proposal to BNSF. On May 15, Marc sends a request to Jess Ketchum asking Jess to provide the CBPOA with the appropriate BNSF management contact to receive a direct presentation of the proposal by the CBPOA. On June 9, Marc sends the CBPOA an email stating that BNSF did not respond to his request. In that email Marc provides the CBPOA with Jess’s email address and suggests the CBPOA try to initiate contact directly. In a separate email on June 9, James provides the CBPOA with the update: “BNSF believe the noise and separation issues can be effectively mitigated by working with individual locomotive engineers to plan throttle and brake transitions very conservatively.” Email: Robert Dick / Trevor Heryet / Marc Gringon (TC) Feb 6, 2015 A UDE at the Crescent Beach south track curve occurs at the location identified as a point of risk in a June 5, 2014 email to TC. The train breaks in half and block all access into and out of Crescent Beach for 4 hours. Prior to this break, 3 earlier breaks and UDEs occurred at the same location. The evaluation for an expanded speed boundary is re-requested by the CBPOA. The CBPOA are told by Transport Canada that the process must first allow BNSF the opportunity to make improvements before Transport Canada can begin the process of enacting an expanded speed boundary.
Recommend
More recommend
