Another CN derailment has sparked renewed calls for a public inquiry into the railway's operations in British Columbia.

The derailment happened early Monday on the company's northern B.C. mainline servicing the port of Prince Rupert.

"I think it is time for the government to take some serious steps [and launch] a full public inquiry into the safety practices of CN Rail," said New Democrat MLA Maurine Karagianis, the opposition transportation critic, adding there has been three derailments involving the railway in northern B.C. in the last six weeks.

This latest accident involved a westbound grain train heading to the Ridley grain terminal. A CN spokeswoman said 29 of 99 grain cars came off the tracks about 48 kilometres east of Terrace, B.C.

"There were no injuries and no dangerous goods were involved," said Kelli Svendsen.

CN has pumped millions of dollars into improving the railway line in anticipation of increased traffic in and out of Prince Rupert's new $170-million Fairview container terminal, which was officially opened last week.

Svendsen said CN anticipated reopening the mainline early Tuesday.

Agency notified

Transportation Safety Board spokesman John Cottreau said the federal agency was notified of the derailment early Monday and was investigating.

On Aug. 21, 10 empty rail cars jumped the CN tracks in Quesnel on a rail line the company acquired in a controversial billion-dollar deal with the provincial government in 2004. No one was injured.

Two weeks before, emergency personnel in Prince George were called out to a major blaze touched off when two trains collided, again on the former BC Rail right-of-way.

A northbound train with three locomotives crashed into a southbound lumber train.

No one was hurt in the crash but a locomotive, a tanker and a car piled with lumber all caught fire.

CN determined the collision was a result of human error.

Later in the week, the provincial environment ministry served the company with a pollution prevention order, instructing CN to immediately inspect and monitor the area where diesel and gasoline spilled along one bank of the Fraser River.

Transport Canada also served CN Rail with a list of conditions under which it must operate on the rail line.
  
The Prince George derailment on Aug. 4 came a day after it was announced CN would face federal and provincial charges as a result of another derailment two years ago, again on the former BC Rail line that sent toxic chemicals into a river north of Vancouver.

The Cheakamus River's fish population was virtually wiped out by the spill of 40,000 litres of sodium hydroxide, or caustic soda, into the river on Aug. 5, 2005.

It killed more than half a million fish and caused extensive environmental damage.

'A full, public investigation'

"The safety practices of CN Rail, I think at this point, need a full, public investigation," said Karagianis. "The [B.C.] government needs to take responsibility for that."

She said a public inquiry would be particularly useful in light of the expansion to the port of Prince Rupert and the increased traffic that will send through northern B.C.

"There's going to be much more traffic on this line than there has been to date, and much more toxic, and perhaps harmful products being moved," she said.

B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon was out of the country and unavailable to comment on the call for a public inquiry.