The city of Port Coquitlam is confident in CP Rail's management of dangerous goods rolling through the city and is in regular contact with the rail company on issues, a spokesperson says.
And while the city has a general idea of what is being shipped, it doesn't have specific information on what passes through the city on a daily basis, relying on CP Rail's expertise.
"We count on our collaborative relationship with CP, who are the experts with the knowledge on what is where and when. CP is regulated and monitored by Transport Canada," the city said in a statement.
In an emergency, the city would depend on information it receives from CP Rail and would activate its emergency operation centre with members trained and equipped to respond to hazardous product emergencies. The city was also recently informed of CP Rail's emergency preparedness program, including its incident response plan.
As many as 30,000 feet of containers can pass through the city outbound from the Port of Vancouver on a daily basis and, according to the Railway Association of Canada, most of the products are those used by households and businesses.
A spokesperson for CP Rail said that out of respect to the residents of the Quebec community at the centre of the tragic rail incident and the investigations now under way, CP will not provide comment at this time.
