Q:
How much coal leaves the trains when they are traveling?
Posted March 26, 2015
A:
Our primary objective is to ensure coal stays in the railcars during transit. We have an economic, as well as an environmental incentive to do so – our businesses depend on getting the coal to its final destination.
We work hard to do this and in recent years have invested more than $50-million to make our transportation and terminal systems better. In the summer of 2014, a monitoring station was set up adjacent to the rail lines in Delta, BC. During the testing period, over two million metric tonnes of coal was transported in 362 trains (approximately 48,870 cars), and only 200mg of coal dust was measured. This is equivalent to the weight of 20 grains of sand. While this is a very small amount, we are continually working to do even better.