CALGARY — Wednesday’s derailment of a Canadian Pacific train in Bassano, Alberta, had an unexpected transportation impact— disruption of flight operations in Western Canada, particularly by Canadian airline WestJet.
The CBC reports that flights from Calgary International Airport on Thursday were disrupted when a portion of the air navigation system was knocked out by loss of a fiber telecommunications line as a result of the derailment some 85 miles from Calgary. WestJet was forced to cancel three flights, experienced delays of more than 100 others, and had issues with check-in and baggage-check systems.
By midday, Nav Canada, operator of the air navigation system, said services were returning as telecommunications provider Zayo restored service. Zayo said two fiber lines had been disrupted, including an outage caused by the derailment. Zayo said in a statement it had “rerouted a significant volume of traffic via other routes so that our customers can begin resuming normal operations.”
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada announced it was sending an investigator to the site of the Bassano derailment, one of two involving CP grain trains on Wednesday [see “Two Canadian Pacific trains derail …,” Trains News Wire, July 14, 2022]. The Alberta incident involved 43 cars of grain, the Calgary Herald reports.
Proof readers are a lost art. And for most of us, gaffs jump off the page as we read.
The words “agriculturally based grain” were in quoted remarks by the chief administrative officer for the city of Bassano. The newspaper should not be criticized for what an interview subject says in a quote.
I agree with Mr Chandler. If I want progressive left-of-center news, I go to MSNBC. If I want news with a centrist take, I turn on CNN or unreliable local sources. If I want a business perspective, I go to the Wall Street Journal, or Fox for right-of-center thinking. The New York Times and LA Times do a good job with general coverage, but even there, adequate presentation of the key facts is usually lacking. Schierloh’s critique of the statement “Is there a grain that isn’t agriculturally based grain”?” is on target, but fortunately most readers will fill in enough detail to know what the paper is talking about, but that is no excuse for insufficient coverage (or the bad grammar, misspellings and other errors that are so typical in our less-than-perfect press).
I have to comment that Trains and the other Kalmbach publications are shining examples of good writing, unlike the lack of care taken by the mainstream media. Could it be that the spirit of David P. Morgan survives and watches over the enterprise?
Cleveland, July 15, 2022
ZAYO communications? Does Nav Canada have a maybe contract to provide service that will automatically switch to an alternate route immediately orwithin 1 minute?
The question becomes did Nav Canada have such a contract? “OR” Did ZAYO not install enough capacity on their routes so any disrupption could handle all rerouted traffic? :OR” did other ZAYO users of the alternate routings have higher priority?.
Any coporate or other connections between Nav Canada and ZAYO by commonbusiness connections?
I think this is the first time I have heard of a fiber fail due to a derail event. The hopper must have rolled into a nearby fiber hut or access terminal. The wheels usually don’t cut deep enough to reach the trough.
Journalism died sometime before 2008.
Few news reporters have knowledge of what they write and just produce copy. Likely editors likewise have no knowledge either. I long for news copy that reports the facts without embellishing those facts.
Ok, reading the Calgary Herald headline, I have to ask, “Is there a grain that isn’t “agriculturally based grain”?” Grains of Sand? Wood grain?