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CN Rail shuts down crossing

The rail crossing that was the site of the train derailment last month has been closed by CN Rail.
CN Rail shuts down crossing
The rail crossing that was the site of the crash between a logging truck and a CN Rail train has been shut down. The crossing has been closed since the accident occurred and is disrupting

CN Rail has shut down the rail crossing that was the site of an accident between a logging truck and a CN Rail train.

The accident occurred at approximately 6:45 a.m. July 25 at an unmarked rail crossing neat the Decker Lake Forest Products sawmill.

The train derailment including 22 intermodal cars and two locomotives but not the entire train.

The track was re-opened and operational by the next morning, but CN Rail has shut down the crossing on North Road that is used by loggers to haul their timber to the Decker Lake mill.

Hampton Affiliates' president and chief executive officer, Steve Zika says that his company is working with CN Rail to get the crossing re-opened.

"We are currently working with CN to identify what additional safety precautions need to be implemented to get the crossing re-opened," Zika said.

The crossing has been closed for nearly a month now, and it is having negative affects on the local logging business.

Wes Bohmer of Burns Lake Native Logging says that the closure of this road is having the save affect, business wise as the explosion at Babine Forest Products sawmill did.

“It has put a lot of people out of work so now they’re looking for work in communities outside of Burns Lake,” Bohmer said, “It has completely shut down operations.”

Bohmer says that his company is not processing, not cutting and not skidding any wood.

“We’re not doing anything so nobody is working,” Bohmer said, “The mill is still open and operational but it’s going to be out of wood shortly too, probably.”

According to Bohmer a similar thing happened in Terrace a while ago and the rail crossing was kept closed for two years.

Bohmer says that some of his workers have found work in other communities, but adds that isn’t the point.

If the crossing is closed for any length of time he says once he starts back up again he won’t have anybody to work for him.

“We’re going to have to pay more to get them back, which is costly, or pay more to train and hire new people, which is costly,” Bohmer said.

Bohmer isn’t sure how long the crossing will stay closed, but he has heard speculation that it could be closed an additional two to three months, something he says would cripple his business.

Bohmer says he is losing $25,000 per day, which equates to $375,000 in income from timber sales alone in the 15 business days the crossing has been shut down.

That number doesn’t include the additional costs, such as paying rent, paying staff and administrative costs.

“If it shuts down for the three months we won’t be here we’ll have to go somewhere else,” Bohmer said.

The other option, Bohmer says is that Hampton may allow his company to haul to the Babine Forest Products mill, but the problem with that he says is that Hampton would have to pay additional costs of the re-cutting of the logs to size for Babine, something that Hampton wouldn’t want to pay.

As far as finding another way to get his timber to the Decker Lake Forest Products mill, Bohmer says that there’s no other safe or cost efficient way for that to occur.

He says there are other ways into the Decker Lake mill’s yard, but that they include long detours that would double his haul cost.

Using the entrance to the mill off of Hwy. 16 isn’t an option, too.

“The highway portion into Decker is way too narrow and once you get unloaded you cannot safely or pass on that narrow of a road,” Bohmer said.