As a former freight train conductor, Rex Beatty knows Canada’s railways. As president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union he represents thousands of railway employees and he’s determined to publicize the need for railway safety.
He points to how Canadian railway companies have cut down on personnel on freight trains, and how they sometimes ignore requests by tired employees to be replaced, as disturbing tendencies that put the system at risk.
Numerous dangerous and sometimes fatal derailments recently across Canada have raised public awareness of the issue of safety.
The union has now started a publicity campaign called “Things Are Falling Off the Tracks, Public Safety Cannot Be Ignored”.
RCI’s Wojtek Gwiazda talked to Rex Beatty about the issues involved, and the situation train crews find themselves in as they transport increasingly long trains of up to three miles long.
More information:
Teamsters Canada Rail Conference – Rail safety web page – here
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