11
January/February 2025
|
THE DAVEY BULLETIN
CANADA RAIL CLEARS BUSY RAIL LINE DEBRIS
A storm with strong, straight-line winds, known as plow
winds, knocked down 450 Douglas fir and cedar trees in
Yoho National Park. Located in the Rocky Mountains in Field,
British Columbia, some of the trees that fell in the park
were on Canadian Pacific Kansas City's (CPKC) single track
rail line, while others were likely to slide onto the line from
the hillside. Davey Tree Expert Co. of Canada, Limited's Rail
crews immediately responded to the emergency call the
following morning to clear the downed trees.
"There are probably 45 trains that run along that track per
day, and it is most likely the busiest section of track in
Canada," said Chris Johnson, account manager, Canada Rail,
Davey Canada. "CPKC was not able to shut the line down
for us to do our work, so we came up with another plan by
using Davey crews and a helicopter crew."
Davey Canada's Christopher Preece, field project coordinator,
Canada Rail, and Mark Pinder, supervisor, mechanical rail,
formulated a plan by using a drone to see if it was safe to
get employees moving up and down the hill where the trees
had fallen. They also brought in a helicopter logging company
crew to assist in the safe removal of storm debris from the
track and hillside.
Mechanical rail employees William Kurt Blackmore,
foreman, and Haven Blackmore, power saw operator,
cleared the tree debris that was blocking the track to get
the rail line up and running.
Mechanical rail's Tyler Burt, power saw operator, Robert
McMaster, equipment operator, and Lorne Roach, power
saw operator, worked with the helicopter crew on the
hillside and at the landing site to remove the fallen trees
from the park. The crews cleared all the debris over 13 days.
To comply with the park's procedures to meet wildfire
mitigation strategies and safely dispose of the wood, the
mechanical rail team's Jodie Kucheran, supervisor, and
Trent Stefanovich, general foreman, were able to donate
firewood-sized pieces of wood to the local mountain
community.
"We supplied a lot of firewood, making many people in the
town happy," Johnson said.
Johnson noted that these emergency jobs and the ability to
react to them in a timely manner is crucial to meeting their
customers' needs. "We pride ourselves in our turnaround
time, often by calling on employees from Canada's
Residential and Utility teams for help when needed."
The sheer rock face pictured on the right is at a 45-degree angle
towards the rail track. "The trees that fell were on a hillside, angled
towards the track," said Chris Johnson. "A grizzly bear was spotted
on the tracks, so that was something we had to be aware of the
whole time we were working – that there had been a bear sighting
in the area."
