Guernsey alarmed after 2 train derailments in 2 months

Two oil tanker derailments in two months in the same area is too many for the residents of Guernsey, where both incidents happened.

On Dec. 9, a CP Rail train carrying crude oil derailed near the community; the same thing happened on Feb. 6. Both incidents gave way to thick, heavy fires and black smoke billowing up into the sky.

The frequency and the proximity of the derailments to their community has people there alarmed.

“An explosion like that, look what happened in Quebec: It obliterated a whole town (Lac-Megantic). We don’t want to be another Quebec. We just want answers and assurances that it’s going to be fixed,” Brian Prentice said.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating the Feb. 6 derailment.

On that same day, the federal agency issued a Ministerial Order for 30 days, saying that “key trains (which contain 20 or more cars carrying dangerous goods)” slow down to 32 kilometres per hour in metropolitan areas and 40 kilometres per hour outside of metropolitan areas.

CP Rail issued a statement saying it supports the order.

Still, Prentice and his neighbours worry about could have been.

“If that train would have come off the track in town, the only place you would’ve seen Guernsey is in the history book. There would have been nothing left.”

Dan Koch said he’s still coming to terms with what happened and the possibility of another train derailing in his or in other communities.

“When’s the next town gonna get hit? Where? when? And will it be a deadly situation? We were lucky, just plain lucky,” Koch said.

Prentice admitted the two derailments have taken a toll on his physical health.

“You don’t know what your sleep pattern is going to be like anymore when you hear that train horn,” he said.

After Thursday’s derailment, the entire community — consisting of almost 90 people — had to be evacuated for safety concerns. People were allowed back home on Friday at 4 p.m.

“Home is your sacred place and when you can’t come back to it, it’s a scary feeling,” Vicky Miller said.

As of Monday morning, Highway 16 remained closed and traffic was being detoured as clean-up at the site continues.