Gunman Fatally Shoots Soldier at Ottawa War Memorial, Opens Fire in Canadian Parliament

A gunman opened fire on a Canadian soldier who was on sentry duty at a War memorial in Canada's capital on Wednesday before advancing to the Parliament building where the assailant was shot and killed by the sergeant-at-arms in an exchange of gunfire.

According to the CBC, witnesses reported a gunman who approached the War Memorial from the west at 9:50 AM local time and fired twice at 24 year old Cpl Nathan Cirillo, striking him in the abdomen and firing a round at another soldier stationed at the memorial, but missing. Although Cirillo and the other soldier had rifles at the time, they were reportedly inert and used for ceremonial purposes. Cirillo would later die of his injuries, leaving behind a five year old son.

As witnesses and paramedics attempted to revive Cirillo, the gunman left the area in a beige car with the license plates removed, abandoning it several blocks from the parliament building and making his way there on foot. After getting through a checkpoint and commandeering a government vehicle, the gunman makes his way into Parliament's Centre Block.

Upon making his way inside the parliament building, members of parliament barricaded themselves in their offices as the gunman shot at sergeant-at-arms Kevin Vickers, a veteran former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer from New Brunswick. Vickers returned fire with his sidearm, killing the gunman and stopping his rampage before he could get any further inside the parliament building.



Video released by a Toronto Globe and Mail reporter on the scene as events unfolded show officers advancing down a marble corridor with their weapons drawn. The camera jostles as a single shot rings out- believed to be from the assailant's lever-action .30-30 rifle- followed by a dozen or so shots fired in rapid succession [which could easily be from Vickers 9mm- NANESB!] echo through the corridors amid shouting and additional officers rushing towards the sound of gunfire.

The gunman has been identified by the RCMP as a 32 year old convert to Islam named Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. The weapon used was a lever-action Winchester hunting rifle common in both Canada and the USA, but since Zehaf-Bibeau reportedly had a criminal record, investigators are looking into how he obtained the gun.

Sadly, Cpl Cirillo wasn't the first Canadian soldier killed by a radicalized islamist in eastern Canada this week. The Ottawa shooting comes just days after two Canadian soldiers were struck by a hit and run driver outside of Montreal. The driver, a 25 year old Québécois convert to radical islam named Martin Coutere-Rouleau reportedly waited for more than two hours in the parking lot of a building that housed a number of government and civilian agencies in St Jean sur Richelieu before striking at least two soldiers with his 2000 Nissan Altima. Coutere-Rouleau was later shot and killed by police during a high speed chase.

Both Coutere-Rouleau and Zehaf-Bibeau were reportedly under scrutiny from Canada's CSIS intelligence service as the two of them adorned their social media pages with imagery supporting the ISIS Islamic group and expressing a desire to travel to Syria to fight alongside the Islamic state. Couture-Rouleau's passport was seized in June, but since he hadn't broken any Canadian laws the RCMP and Sûreté du Québec couldn't press charges. One of the soldiers, identified as 53 year old Patrice Vincent, later died of his injuries after being struck by Coutere-Rouleau's Nissan.

Prime minister Stephen Harper, who had recently pledged to support Kurdish and Iraqi forces fighting the Islamic State, described both the Ottawa and St Jean sur Richelieu attacks as terrorism when addressing the nation on TV on Wednesday.

Today's Train of Thought- Canadian Club, July 2, 2014

In [slightly belated] honor of Canada Day today's Train of Thought takes us north of the border to Ontario for something of a throwback that is distinctly Canadian.

The GMD 1 was manufactured by Canada's GM subsidiary starting in the late 1950s and initially found only two buyers- the Canadian National and the Northern Alberta Railways [which was absorbed into the CN system in 1981- NANESB!]. Unlike the ALCo, MLW or EMD end-cab switchers of the time, the GMD1's slightly off-center cab and overall body style was more reminiscent of the ALCo RS1 than any EMD product. The uniquely Canadian units spent much of their service life toiling away on isolated prairie branchlines in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, hauling grain over rail too light for most other locomotive types on the CN roster at the time.

Beginning in the late 1990s, the Canadian National underwent privatization and began divesting themselves of some of the marginal prairie branchlines while acquiring American Class 1 or regional lines such as the Illinois Central or Wisconsin Central. While Canadian National began retiring and selling off a number of the 1200 HP GMD 1's as switchers for quarries, grain elevators and even Cuba's national railways.

Still, a number of the distinctive GMD roadswitchers not only remained on the CN roster, but were put into service systemwide as yard switchers or powering local freights after the prairie lines had been largely abandoned or sold off.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Ryan Gaynor- aka LocalRailfan- caught Canadian National GMD 1 #1444 out on the mainline in Dundas, Ontario on July 6th, 2012. Here, the #1444 and CN GP38-2W #4776 are seen pushing hard on the rear of Toledo, OH to Toronto mainifest freight, Train 385.



The head end power [a CN C44-9W, C40-8 and GP9R] was having a difficult time ascending the Niagara Escarpment on the line between Niagara Falls and Toronto and the #1444 and wide-cab GP38 were summoned from nearby Aldershot Yard to assist the heavy manifest freight up the grade. Fortunately, LocalRailfan has video evidence of this CN freight's epic struggle against gravity on his YouTube channel.

Not only is the power [both head-end and tail-end- NANESB!] increasingly rare and unique, so are manned helpers on Class 1 lines such as the CN. Lately, railroads prefer to tackle difficult terrain using strategically distributed power (DPUs) that can be controlled from the lead units

Today's Train of Thought- The Scab Cabs, November 18, 2013

Today's Train of Thought takes us north of the border and features an unusual aspect of Canadian National's operation.

What appears to be a regular mixed freight is actually a special train operated on the Canadian National for the sole purpose of familiarizing management personnel with hands on operation of freight trains. At first blush, the eventual purpose of such a train would be to press management into duty as train service crews in the event of any sort of labor disruption. This somewhat unusual train has been dubbed by some as 'the scab train' or 'manager's special'. On astute observer pointed out that the scab train primarily operates hauling ballast cars and empty flatcars, not 9000 foot freight trains loaded with hazardous or bulky materials.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Dan Tweedle caught one such train- officially designated Train 908- coming off the Dundas subdivision in southern Ontario as it approaches the yard in Hamilton, ON on November 4th, 2011 with the trees behind the tracks still displaying some fairly late color.

Canada Arrests Two in Alleged Al Qaeda Inspired Plot to Blow Up Passenger Train in Toronto Area

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested two men on Monday afternoon who were charged with an Al Qaeda sponsored plot to blow up or derail passenger trains in the Toronto area.

“Had this plot been carried out, it would have resulted in innocent people being killed or seriously injured,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police official James Malizia told reporters in Toronto.

The RCMP said it had arrested Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto in connection with the plot, which authorities said was not linked to the Boston Marathon bombings, but likely had connections to al-Qaida.

“The RCMP is alleging that Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser were conspiring to carry out an al-Qaida-supported attack against a VIA passenger train,” Malizia said.

U.S. officials said the attack would have targeted a rail line between New York and Toronto, but Canadian police did not confirm that.

The arrests come a week after the terrorist attack that killed three people and injured nearly 200 others at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, leading up to a chaotic chase and running gunfight in the Boston area just hours after the FBI released images showing two of the bombers from surveillance footage on Thursday. Some reports that the two Chechen brothers behind the Boston Marathon attack were part of a larger sleeper cell. However, the RCMP claims that today's arrests are likely unrelated to the Marathon bombings.

The two suspects are not Canadian citizens, although their respective countries of origin weren't disclosed at Monday's news conference.

The plan received “direction and guidance” from an element of al-Qaeda based in Iran, said the force, refusing to elaborate. That connection with the Islamic terrorist organization made the plot particiularly significant, said Asst. Supt. Malidza.

However, officers said there was no evidence the plan was in any way “state-sponsored.”

Earlier this year, two Canadian nationals who were on the radar of Canada's intelligence agency were among the hostage-takers killed at a natural gas plant in southern Algeria when the Algerian military raided the facility. At least 23 hostages and more than 30 terrorists were killed in the January attack.

Taxpayers Take a Hit as Uncle Sam Prepares to Unload General Motors Shares.

Worth the paper it's printed on?

General Motors [NYSE: GM] announced earlier this week that it was purchasing back some 200 shares of their stock from the United States government. Although the deal is worth an estimated $5 billion, taxpayers are going to end up taking a loss on the auto bailout from nearly four yearsago that also saw Chrysler end up in an arranged marriage with Italian automaker Fiat.

The government got its shares as part of a $49.5 billion bailout of GM that began nearly four years ago. It saved GM from collapsing into financial ruin.

GM said it will pay $27.50 each for the 200 million shares, and it expects to close the deal by the end of the year. GM stock closed Tuesday at $25.49, and it shot up 7.1 percent in premarket trading Wednesday to $27.30.

However, the 'break even' price is said to be near $53 per share, meaning that the shares of General Motors would have to nearly double in order for the government to recoup their losses from General Motor's post-bailout IPO. As part of the initial terms of the bailout, Uncle Sam initially owned more than 60% of GM. General Motor officals said that part of the reason for the stock buyback from the Feds was to rid themselves of th 'Government Motors' stigma.

Canada and the province of Ontario also became stakeholders in GM during the 2009 bailout and officials announced they had no plans to divest their shares of GM in the short-term.

"We've always been clear about two things. One, that we will not have a fire sale - we will not sell the shares without getting the best value we can for Canadian taxpayers - and secondly, that we are a Conservative government. We are not interested in the long term in being shareholders in private corporations," [Finance Minister] Flaherty told reporters in Burlington, Ontario.

"Over time we do intend to divest. On the timing, I'll have to get back to
you."
Canada's federal government and the province of Ontario became shareholders of GM in 2009, when they contributed a combined C$10.8 billion ($10.89 billion) to a bailout to keep GM afloat. The U.S. government provided about US$50 billion.

Canada and Ontario's combined stake in General Motors is about 9%.

Iron Horse Roundup for September 2012

Ontario Northland GP38-2 #1805 seen heading north at Huntsville, ON with The Northlander in March 2011 WD Shaw photo

CANADA- After announcing upcoming cutbacks in service earlier this year, Ontario Northland's Northalnder made its final scheduled run from Toronto to Cochrane, ON this week.

Critics predict 1,000 employees face layoffs in remote, economically strapped communities served by Ontario Northland, the provincial Crown-owned rail service.

As people wept and reminisced on the Northlander's last run, several regional mayors and MPPs vowed to maintain full-steam ahead lobbying of the province to restore rail service and stop undermining far north residents, industries and tourism.

At Cochrane's busy station -- where Polar Bear Express trains to the northernmost Moosonee terminus still operate for locals and tourists -- passengers joined Mayor Peter Politis on the last morning train after a protest rally. A similar afternoon rally was held in North Bay.

In a news release inviting final riders, Politis criticized the government for ignoring "all pleas for reasoning, all rationale on environmental impacts and all exclamations by Northerners for respect of their way of life and their right to determine their futures for themselves."

Some northerners rode converted one-level former GO Transit coaches south on business, to visit families and doctors in the centre of Ontario's universe. Trains were also popular with Toronto-area cottage-owners seeking to avoid traffic gridlock

Some northerners rode converted one-level former GO Transit coaches south on business, to visit families and doctors in the centre of Ontario's universe. Trains were also popular with Toronto-area cottage-owners seeking to avoid traffic gridlock.

This March, the government announced it would wind down its Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), citing $100 million annual subsidizes plus stagnant ridership.

The province of Ontario, which owns the Ontario Northland, publicly announced 12 years ago that they were seeking to divest themselves of the railroad. Canadian National had reportedly expressed an interest in acquiring the line, but talks ultimately fell through. While the Northlander will be discontinued, the Cochrane-Moosonee Polar Bear Express shall continue operating.

The Ontario Northland Railway also operates rail freight service between Cohrane and Moosonee. The company also operates ferry and motorcoach service in the northern part of the Province as well as the telecommunications firm Ontera. The provincial government had also recently announced they were looking to sell off Ontera to a private bidder.

PAKISTAN- With Pakistan's rail network crumbling and in disarray Pakistan's Railway Minister has decided none of that is as important as weighing on on the Innocence of Muslims controversey by offering a $100,000 bounty on the head of the California filmmakerearlier this month.

Despite international condemnation, Pakistan's railways minister says he isn't backing down from his $100,000 bounty offer to anyone who kills the maker of the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims.

Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, the slight, silver-haired minister, says he was angry when he saw the video and that he's a man of great faith, passionately devoted to the Prophet Muhammad.

Bilour says he could not tolerate any insult to Muhammad and felt he had to do something about it. At a news conference last Saturday, he made the $100,000 bounty offer to anyone — including Taliban and al-Qaida members — who kills the maker of the video, who has been identified as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

Nakoula was detained Thursday in California and is being held on charges that he violated his probation regulations

"I thought the U.S. and Europe would make some law prohibiting any insult to any prophet but that did not happen," Bilour says. "Since they did not make the law then I thought this is the way to stop it."

Pakistan's government and Bilour's own secular political party have distanced themselves from the Cabinet minister. Bilour says he doesn't care.

"I said it in my personal capacity, and not as a member of the government, and because of the fact that I have political vision and I think that was important," Bilour says.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani Taliban have embraced him. Bilour's bounty offer has also garnered support from some Islamist politicians in Pakistan, such as Hafiz Hussain Ahmed. Ahmed says he's a political opponent of Bilour's, but he agrees that if someone ridicules the prophet, the punishment is death.

But Muhammad Malik, senior editor of Dunya News, one of the leading news channels in Pakistan, sees things with a more jaundiced eye. He says Bilour's offer is a desperate attempt to get publicity, that as the minister of Pakistan's decrepit railway system, Bilour has been a failure.

Malik also points out that Bilour also owns a theater in his home district of Peshawar. Beside western diplomatic missions, cinemas in Pakistan were also reportedly subject to protests from angry mobs rioting over The Innocence of Muslims.

Newly acquired Montreal, Maine & Atlantic C39-8 #8202 leads Iowa, Chicago & Eastern SD40-2#6450 and MM&A B23-7 #2003 lead a westbound mixed freight and empty oil tank train through Brookport, Quebec on September 6, 2012. Frank Jolin photo

MONTREAL MAINE & ATLANTIC- Two years after laying off nearly half og its workforce and selling more than 230 miles of track to the state of Maine, the Montreal Maine & Atlantic is experiencing a rebound of traffic, hiring additional crews as well as purchasing and leasing locomotives.

In July, the Montreal Maine & Atlantic purchased a pair of former Norfolk Southern (nee Conrail) six-axle GE C39-8s- six axle equivalents to the B39-8s the MM&A already has on roster. The units were being stored in eastern Pennsylvania on the New Hope & Ivyland where they were to be refurbished for a proposed luxury train called the Greenbrier Express. However, plans for the service changed from operating an independent trainset to attaching a few luxury cars on already existing Amtrak trains out of Washington DC.

In addidtion to the newer, burly six-axle GE's, the MM&A has also been borrowing SD40-2s from the Canadian Pacific and Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern. The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic has also been posting openings for conductors and engineers on their website as well as the jobs board of the Railroad Retirement Bureau page.

Earlier this year, the JD Irving refinery in East St John, NB began refining crude oil from the Bakken oil shale in North Dakota and Saskatchewan. The lack of any significant east-west oil pipelines in the USA or Canada means that shipping the oil by rail was the next logical choice. From the Bakken shale, the line either moves by BNSF to Chicago or Canadian Pacific to Montreal- from Chicago, the oil is shipped via CSX as far east as Rotterdam Jct where it is handed off the Pan Am Railroad where it makes its way through New England to the New Brunswick Southern at Mattawamkeag, ME for the final leg of its journey to E. St Johns.

The other option is for the oil to travel as far east as Montreal on the Canadian Pacific where it's handed off to the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic where it travels across southern Quebec and the north woods of Maine before the MM&A hands the oil off to the NBSR. The empties are routed back via the MM&A or Pan-Am as well.

A trio of Gulf, Colorado and San Saba GP15-1s pass through Lometa, TX with a trainload of frac sand in January 2011. Ryan R/Jim R photo

TEXAS- The 68-mile central Texas shortline Gulf, Colorado and San Saba has filed for bankruptcy over the summer. Faced with a court-ordered liquidation of the railroad's assets, Gulf, Colorado & San Saba owner Richard McClure sought to avoid such a scenario by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a company is protected from its creditors while it continues operating under the supervision of a court appointed trustee.

The bankruptcy filing by the GCSR came just before the sale of the company was to take place on the steps of the San Saba Courthouse. The sale was the result of a $1.7 million court judgement against it by BNSF railroad.

GCSR owner, Richard McClure, told the Brady Standard Herald the bankruptcy filing was a strategic business decision that would allow them to reorganize and pay off debt.

Locally, customers of the railroad have met to to review how the bankruptcy potentially affects their businesses, and what steps they might need to take to ensure the continuation of rail service to the area.

McClure told the Brady Standard Herald there would be virtually no change in service to the area during the bankruptcy.

The GCSR started up in the 1992 after purchasing the former Santa Fe branchline between Brady and Lometa, TX. Although traffic was initially agricultiral products, in recent years drilling around the Eagle Ford Shale has picked up and the line has seen a dramatic increase in sand for use in hydrofracking.

Despite the increase in traffic, the line is reportedly suffering from deferred maintainence, a lack of capacity at their Brady, TX yard and problems paying the bills. One unsourced review on Yahoo dated May 2011 claimed the company was months behind on a $60,000 bill.

Today's Train Of Though- A Parry Merry Canada Day, July 1 2012

Today's Train of Thought takes us to the hometown of legendary Boston Bruins defenseman and NHL Hall of Famer Bobby Orr.

Located about 150 miles north of Toronto, the town of Parry Sound, ON is located along an inlet on the Canadian side of Lake Huron. For more than a century a large steel trestle remains highly visible throughout most of Parry Sound. The soaring 1,695 bridge over the Seguin River carries Canadian Pacific's transcontinental mainline. Canadian National's Bala subdivison is nearby, but Canadian National and Canadian Pacific have entered into an agreement where northbound CN and CP trains use directional runningon the CP line through town while southbound trains from bouth railways use the nearby CN line.

So despite the fact we're seeing a solitary Canadian National locomotive charging northward across the Seguin River, the trestle and rails are in fact Canadian Pacific.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Don James caught Canadian National C40-8M #2407 handling a mixed freight as it makes its way north over the Seguin Rive on an August 2010 afternoon.

Canada's Parliment Expected to Pass Bill Ordering Striking CP Rail Employees Back to Work

Canadian lawmakers are expected to pass a back-to-work bill that would get Canadian Pacific [NYSE: CP- TSX: CP] trains rolling by the weekend and order striking Canadian Teamsters back to work on Thursday.

The striking Canadian rail workers have been working without a contract since December 31st. At issue when the Teamsters Canada workers called a strike last week was a new contract and pension funding reductions of up to 40%. Canada's Conservative government has previously passed similar back-to-work legislation to end strikes at Canada Post and Air Canada [TSX: AC-A] in recent years.

Trains from Canada's second-largest railway ground to a halt on May 23rd, severely curtailing CP Rail's operations on the American side of the border as well as those of shippers and railways that interchange with CP Rail.

The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic, which utilizes trackage rights over CP Rail at the western end of the MM&A system near Montreal, has temporarily laid off 59 employees and re-routed some interchange traffic to the Vermont Railway via Newport, VT. Canadian Pacific is responsible for dispatching trackage in and around the St Jean, Quebec interchange. While an agreement to keep commuter trains in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver operating during the strike had been reached shortly beforehand, the MM&A unsuccessfully sought a court injunction to allow the regional railroad to access Canadian National for interchange in Montreal.

According to Kevin Burkholder's Eastern Railroad News, CP Rail, the Montreal Maine & Atlantic and JD Irving's New Brunswick Southern have been gearing up to handle unit trains of crude oil from Saskatchewan to Irving's St John, NB refinery. Earlier this month, Canadian Pacifc was gearing up to ship 120-car trains of crude oil from the North Dakota side of the Bakken shale to refineries in the northeastern United States.

Earlier this year, Canadian labor groups were handed a major setback when EMD's parent company Caterpillar [NYSE- CAT] decided to shutter their London, Ontario plant and shift production to Muncie, IN after a months-long labor dispute with workers at the plant represented by the Canadian Auto Workers.

[Hat tip- Eastern Railroad News; Labor Union Report]

Obama Rips Right-to-Work States in Speech to Big Labor, Ignores Recent Jobs Created in Those Very States

Speaking before Union leaders in Washington DC for the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department Legislative Conference, President Obama took the time to attack right-to-work states before his Big Labor audience.

"I believe when folks try and take collective bargaining rights away by passing so-called 'right to work' laws that might also be called 'right to work for less,' laws, that’s not about economics, that’s about politics," Obama told the AFL-CIO today. "That’s about politics." He then credited the AFL-CIO for creating American prosperity, saying "unions like yours made sure that everybody had a fair shake, everybody had a fair shot."

The speech comes about a year after the National Labor Relations Board blocked Boeing [NYSE- BA] from shifting production of components for their 787 Dreamliner from Washington state to a facility outside of Charleston, SC. The NLRB's move was applauded by AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka along with the Obama Administration and senior Democrats even though such actions would stifle further development.

While it might play well for an audience that includes Trumka or Jimmy Hoffa Jr, it seems to ignore the harsh reality for unions and the Obama Administration that the new industrial and manufactuing jobs that have been cropping up recently have done so in right-to-work states.

For instance, with international demand skyrocketing, American locomotive manufatcurers Caterpillar [NYSE- CAT] and General Electric [NYSE- GE] have either retrenched or expanded to right-to-work states. Caterpillar subsidiary EMD recently shuttered their London, Ontario plant in Canada after a protracted labor dispute with the Canadian Auto Workers union, shifting production to their recently opened Muncie, IN facility earlier this year. In 2011, General Electric announced that they would expand production to a 500,000 sqare foot facility outside of Ft Worth, TX slated to open up later on this year. This is in addition to their current facility in Erie, PA- although curiously this move by General Electric's Jeffery Immelt [as well as the Obama Administration's jobs czar- NANESB!] was not challenged by the NLRB like Boeing's similar expansion from Washington State to South Carolina.

And locomotives aren't the only thing General Electric will be manufacturing in a right-to-work state. In late October 2011, GE Aviation broke ground on an Auburn, AL plant that will make jet aircraft components. Production scheduled to begin in 2013 and the Auburn plant is expected to employ anywhere from 300 to 400 people. Meanwhile, Volkswagen continued a recently-established tradition of foreign automakers setting up shop in the deep south with the 2011 opening of their Chattanooga, TN plant which will primarily make Passats for the North American market. Right up the I-24 and outside of Nashville is Nissan's Smyrna, TN plant which was among the first foreign automaker to set up shop in the USA nearly 30 years ago.

Although construction was halted due to the international economic crisis in 2008, Toyota resumed work on a massive new facility in Blue Springs, MS in 2010 that is expected to go into full production later on this year, rolling out an estimated 150,000 Corollas annually. In 2009, KIA begain rolling out cars from a newly-opened factory in West Point, GA- a down on its luck former textile mill town.

Some enterprising individuals in right to work states like Georiga have even begun marketing chopsticks to overseas markets in Asia, where there is a shortage of wood to manufacture them locally in any significant numbers.
And these are some of the most recent examples I can cite- since the late 1990s, foreign automakers like BMW, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz and Honda have set up shop throughout Dixie- all right to work states. I just figured I would point out some of the jobs created by manufacturers setting up facilities in right-to-work states since President Obama has been in office, since he made it clear in his speech to big labor this week that he washes his hands of anything having to do with right-to-work. However, I have absolutely no doubt that Obama would try to take credit for every last job created in a right to work state over the last 3 years while he's campaigning.
However, perhaps the biggest headache for Democrats in right-to-work states doesn't come from the industrial or manufacturing sector, but rather the upcoming 2012 Democrat Party Convention in Charoltte, NC. Apparently to be awarded the convention, Obama ally and Charlotte's Democrat mayor reportedly had to agree to terms that union workers would be brought in from out of state, leaving local businesses in the lurch after Foxx promised his constituents the convention would be an economic boom. Although Foxx denied steering contracts to out-of-state union businesses, a number of local companies were told by the DNC to look elsewhere for business if they were non-union while as many as 3000 union workers from a Maryland company called Hargove were expected to show up in Charlotte this summer in prepeartion for the convention.

Quickie Iron Horse Roundup- VIA Rail Wreck Kills 3 Crewmen; At Least 51 Dead in Argentina Commuter Train Crash

CANADA- Three crew members of a Niagara Falls-Toronto VIA Rail Canada train were killed when their train derailed in Burlington, ON on Sunday.

VIA Rail has confirmed that three of its employees, all in the locomotive section, died in a train derailment in the southern Ontario city of Burlington on Sunday afternoon.

One of the engineers who died was a trainee. A fourth Via employee was injured in the derailment.

Thirty-two people were injured, according to a release from Halton Region. Three passengers were airlifted to hospitals in Hamilton, one with a heart attack, another with a broken leg and the third with a back injury. The other passengers suffered less serious injuries and were either treated at the scene or sent to local hospitals.

None of the injuries are life-threatening and a few people have already been discharged, Mario Joanette told CBC News Network. He said he does not expect any more patients from the crash.

The derailment occurred at about 3:30 p.m. ET near Plains and King Roads in Burlington.

The Toronto-bound train was travelling from the Niagara area of southern Ontario when it went off the tracks.

Investigators from the federal Transportation Safety Board will examine the train's "black box," which records technical and voice information. Officials say such investigations take at least a year.

Officials from VIA Rail identified the deceased crew members as Peter Snarr, 52, Ken Simmonds, 56, and trainee Patrick Robinson, 41.

On Tuesday, crews removed the wrecked locomotive from the crash site, one day after investigators had founf the train's black box. The remnants of the locomotive was the last piece of equipment to be cleared from the scene.

Although authorities have ruled out track conditions and weather as contributing to the crash, so far they are at a loss for an explanation. The track that the derailment occured on in Burlington is owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway- local officials point out that the site of Sunday's wreck is close to the scene of a 2008 derailment where 19 cars of a 139 car freight train hit the ground.

Sunday's derailment was VIA Rail's worst accident since a 1986 collision between and eastbound VIA passenger train and a westbound Canadian National freight in Hinton, Alberta that killed 23 people.


ARGENTINA- At least fifty-one people were killed and as many as 600 injured when a commuter train in Buenos Aires crashed into a busy station in the Argnetine capital last week.

The train, which was overcrowded with more than a thousand passengers, slammed into a barrier at the end of a platform at the Once station in the west of the city.

Police said the train's brakes had failed as it arrived at the station, but survivors claimed the train was travelling too fast.
One passenger, who gave his name as Ezequiel, said: "There are people with broken bones and losing a lot of blood. There are a lot of injuries.
"The train was really full. The impact of massive. I was in the carriage for people with bicyles. People were panicking, desperate to get out."
Emergency services said more than 400 people had been taken to hospitals in the city.

The death toll was raised to 51 when police found the body of a commuter in the wreckage two days after the crash. The discovery sparked off clashes between commuters and irate relatives of crash victims and officers clad in riot gear.

Public anger was also directed at the government of Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who had left the capital for her home in the remote Patagonia region two days after the crash. Many commuters are angry that the government seemingly ignored a number of safety violations from the line's private operator- TBA (Trenes Buenos Aires).

On Tuesday, the Argentine government took over operations of the TBA network. Officials say the government takeover will be in effect until the investigation into the crash is completed.

Mid February Iron Horse Roundup- EMD Announces Closure of London Plant; Steel Silk Road in the Works? 'New' Power For Farmrail, New Brunswick Southern

Two EMD SD80ace's are seen on flatcars outside of Canadian Rail Collision and Refubish's Toronto, ON facility. The locomotives- destined for Brazil- have just been repainted and are part of the last order constructed at EMD's London, ON facility before Progress Rail announced they were closing down the facility. Photo- Oscar Majcher

EMD/PROGRESS RAIL- After a month-long lockout and standoff with the Canadian Auto Workers over a new contract, EMD parent company Caterpillar [NYSE: CAT] announced they were shutting down their London, Ontario plant this month.

Electro-Motive Canada announced it was shutting down its plant, wiping out the jobs of 475 locked out workers as well as 200 non-union staff.

Sixty-two years after it started making locomotives in the city and two years after it was purchased by a subsidiary of heavy equipment giant Caterpillar Inc. the plant was history.

It’s the biggest plant closure the city since 1994 when the Northern Telecom plant employing 2,200 shut down.

It will likely cause another spike in the London-St. Thomas unemployment rate which dropped to 9% last month, but is still the second highest of any major city in Canada.

The lockout of the London workers had been a lightning rod for protests with the company asking employees to take as much as a 50% wage cut. A rally on Jan. 21 drew more than 5,000 people.

According to Caterpillar, a key sticking point with the CAW was wages and temporary hiring of outside non-union contract employees to deal with large orders. While the decision to shut down the London plant has understandably sparked outrage throughout Canada [including calls for the seizure of Caterpillar's assets in Canada- NANESB], it's also worth pointing out that whether it was General Motors, Greenbriar Equity or Caterpillar, EMD remained an American company that happened to have a major plant in Canada the whole time the London facility was open.

Prior to Caterpillar's announcement, members of the CAW Local 27 had blockaded flatcars carrying some of the locomotives from the final order from London's plant before leaving of their own accord. The locomotives are destined for Brazilian mining and logistics firm Companhia Vale do Rio Doce [NYSE- VALE] which operates more than 8700 km of track through three subsidiaries in eastern Brazil.

According to Canadian Railway Observations, EMD also received orders for new power from Norfolk Southern, Brazil's VALE and Union Pacific as well as freight and mining railroads in the UK, Australia, Mauritania and the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, Canadian Pacific announced that they selected Progress Rail to undertake an extensive rebuild of their aging fleet of four-axle GP9s and six-axle SD40-2s.

Shortly after the announcement regarding the London plant, Progress Rail hosted a job fair for it's Muncie, IN plant and announced a second one set to take place in early March. Coincidentally, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels had signed a right-to-work bill a few days prior to Caterpillar shutting down the London plant. The bill makes the Hoosier state the first 'rust belt' state with right-to-work laws.

A Russian-built locomotive brings in freight from across the border with Uzbekistan to the frontier town of Hairatan. Photo- Railways of Afghanistan/Asian Development Bank

AFGHANISTAN- Operations began on a new 45 mile rail line in Afghanistan linking the city of Mazar-i-Sharif with the Uzbekistan border at Hairatan earlier this month.

The inaugural load comprised nine wagons of flour from Kazakhstan and three of timber from Siberia. Unloading began shortly after the train arrived at Naibabad, which lies just east of Mazar-i-Sharif airport.

Nominally operational since mid-2011, the line saw its first test trains reach Mazar-i-Sharif in late December, following further work to reinforce the trackbed and improve security. The line is being operated by Uzbekistan’s state railway under a three year concession signed on August 4, but UTY had been waiting for formal safety approval before starting commercial operation.

In addition to supplying NATO forces in Afghanistan and domestic customers, an expanded rail line could also play a role in transporting much of Afghanistan's untapped mineral wealth to markets in Asia and elsewhere for export.

FARMRAIL/GRAINBELT- According to a press release, Farmail subsidiary Grainbelt Corporation has taken delivery of five additional GP38 diesels.

The press release didn't mention where the GP38s came from, but the prior batch of GP38s were purchased by the western Oklahoma railroad secondhand from the Iowa Interstate Railroad. This brings the total number of units in service on the Farmrail/Grainbelt system to 31, including some of the former

Although agricultural traffic on the 300+ mile Farmrail/Grainbelt system has taken a hit due to drought conditions throughout Texas and Oklahoma late last year, this has been offset by increased drilling activity and shipments of crude oil throughout the Anadarko Basin.

Former Grand Trunk Western GP40-2s seen with a Fort Worth & Western genset at Hodge yard in Ft Worth, TX on Dec 31st, 2011. Photo, JT Leal

FORT WORTH & WESTERN- The Fort Worth & Western acquired a pair of former Grand Trunk Western GP40-2s (nee Detroit, Toledo & Ironton) from Rail Management leasing.

The 1972-built roadswitchers join a fleet of about a dozen second-generation roadswitchers and two gensets on the 275-mile Texas carrier. In addition to being repainted in the FW&W's yellow and blue paint scheme, the locomotives will also receive the name of a historical figure or locale along the route as is custom for the Fort Worth & Western.

NEW BRUNSWICK SOUTHERN- JD Irving's New Brunswick Southern has taken delivery of their first-ever 6-axle locomotives. The Canadian National delivered Helm Leasing SD40-3s #6200 and #6318 to the NBSR in January.

Although one of them has already reportedly been repainted in NBSR colors, both locomotives are currently on short-term lease from Helm and being evaluated for service on the mainline between St John, NB and Brownsville, ME.

[Hat tip- Canadian Railway Observations; Railways of Afghanistan]

Highway of Heroes- A Canada Day Tale From Not Another New England Sports Blog

Photo- Military Mom At Home

In honor of Canada Day today, I thought it would be appropriate to look into the Highway of Heroes phenomenon in the province of Ontario.

For the Canadian military, it is standard practice to have an autopsy performed on any serviceman or woman killed in the line of duty. The bodies of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan are flown to the CFB Trenton Air Force Base and then driven about 100 miles to the west where the autopsy is performed at the Centre for Forensic Sciences in Toronto.

The procession has been taking place since 2002 and is always given a police escort the entire way. Much of this journey includes Ontario Highway 401, a freeway sometimes known as the Kingsway.

With the very first of the casualties being repatriated one final time, Pete Fischer- a photographer for Northumberland Today- noticed a crowd of about 30 onlookers, including a pair of policemen, gathered on an overpass and saluting as the hearses made their way down the 401. From there, the crowds from the townships and counties the procession passed through would steadily grow. Canadian flags, handmade signs and ribbons would adorn some overpasses while police officers or firefighters in uniform would park their vehicles alongside the 401 or an overpass and salute the procession.

In his bid to have the province officially recognize the Trenton-Toronto stretch of the 401 as the Highway of Heroes, Fischer recounted:

Every person who stands on a bridge will tell you it’s a feeling like no other. As you wait, you talk with people who have been there before, who you’ve come to know. People smile, share feelings, talk about how many times they’ve stood on various bridges. It’s a mix of pride and sadness.

When the convoy of vehicles is seen approaching, murmurs in the crowd can be heard: “Here they come.” There’s silence as people get ready. Then, there’s a sudden sea of arms waving Canadian flags, wanting to let family members in the procession know we are there for them, that we share their pain and are proud to be Canadian.

It’s not unusual to see a soldier’s hand waving a beret from a hearse, or a family member waving from a limousine, to acknowledge the people on the bridge. Those waves are simple gestures, but more than enough for everyone on a bridge to know in that split second that everyone has made a connection to the people in those vehicles.

Rain or shine, an impromptu, grassroots honor guard is present along ramps and overpasses of the 401 to pay their respects for the fallen one final time.

In August 2007, those advocating for official recognition got their wish as the province unveiled new signs along the 401 designating the 100-mile stretch the Highway of Heroes.

More recently, a stretch of the Trans-Canada highway through British Columbia was also re-named the Highway of Heroes at the urging of the Royal Canadian Legion, veterans and family members of the more than dozen BC natives killed in Afghanistan.

Keep in mind that aside from the Winter Olympics or Don Cherry, Canadians by and large tend to shy away from wearing their patriotism on their sleeves. I have nothing else to add other than I thought that was a very moving and sincere gesture by the folks living in some of these towns along the 401 to pay their last respects to Canada's fallen soldiers.

Borderline Psychosis- The Often Overlooked Northern Border Edition: GAO- Only 32 miles of Canadian Border 'Secure'; Smugglers Pipeline in Northern NY

Looking north from the Whitetail, MT border crossing- Mike Stebelton/ Daniels County Leader

A study released in February indicates that just over 32 miles of the nearly 4,000 mile US/Canadian border is considered 'secure' according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) states the threat of terrorism from the northern border is higher than from the southern Mexico border, given the large expanse of area with limited law enforcement coverage. DHS reports networks of illicit criminal activity and smuggling of drugs, currency, people, and weapons across the northern border.

The report focuses on whether federal agencies are working together to secure the vast stretches of the border owned by the federal government.

The study points out critical gaps in security along the U.S.-Canadian border that limit the ability of Customs and Border Protection to fully secure the border—gaps including a lack of interoperable communications systems and limited sharing of intelligence and information between local and federal officials.

U.S. Customs head Alan Bersin told a US Senate Subcommittee earlier this month that even though the Canadian border sees far fewer arrests than the US/Mexican border, the Canadian border is considered a 'more significant threat' by Customs and DHS.

Although certainly not marred by the bloody narco-violence like Mexico, there are concerns that radical Islamists would attempt to enter the USA through Canada to carry out attacks. In December 1999, an Algerian national was arrested at Port Angeles, WA after entering the country from Victoria, BC when a search of his vehicle turned up plastic bags filled with explosives and some homemade timing devices.

MICHIGAN: Drug traffickers flying in private aircraft have taken to making their drops at small, rural and sometimes unstaffed airports along some border states.

The bust by federal agents didn't happen on the southwestern border. It was in Michigan's rural Thumb region next to a soybean field. The remote airport here in Sandusky offers a smooth runway at any hour to anyone who needs it, a perfect landing spot for brazen drug smugglers who can cross the Great Lakes from Canada in minutes.

Beefed-up enforcement along the Mexican border has made smuggling more challenging for criminal cartels using the major southern routes, but drugs continue to flow across the porous northern border through airstrips like this one as officials look for new ways to fight back.

Tracking rogue planes at low altitude with their transponders off is “like trying to pick a needle out of a haystack,” said John Beutlich of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, who oversees air and marine operations from Washington state to Maine.

“Shoot, we're just a big cherry to pick and didn't realize it,” said Joe Allen, manager of the Sandusky airport, 145 kilometres northeast of Detroit.

He installed a fence to keep cars from meeting planes at the runway, but the property is not staffed at night. Border agents could offer just two signs asking people to call an 800 number if they see something unusual.

Canada is a significant source of high-quality marijuana and the amphetamine Ecstasy. More than 2 million doses of Ecstasy were seized on the northern border in 2009 compared to just 312,000 in 2004, the Drug Enforcement Administration said, offering a snapshot of what's popular and what gets confiscated.

Most shipments come by road. But the 2009 flight from Ontario to Michigan, the subject of a recent federal trial, provided insight into drug operations that use small planes. Officials don't know how frequent such flights are but consider the vulnerability alarming.

Matthew Moody and nephew Jesse Rusenstrom, both from Amherstburg, Ontario, were the couriers captured that night in Sandusky. Their job was to enter the country through Detroit, meet the Canadian plane and deliver the drugs to others in the U.S. They also put 27 kilograms of cocaine worth more than $500,000 on the return flight to Guelph, Ontario.

Matthew Moody and nephew Jesse Rusenstrom, both from Amherstburg, Ontario, were the couriers captured that night in Sandusky. Their job was to enter the country through Detroit, meet the Canadian plane and deliver the drugs to others in the U.S. [In addition to the 79kg of pot and 400,000 ecstacy pills they had flown in and were apprehended with] they also put 27 kilograms of cocaine worth more than $500,000 on the return flight to Guelph, Ontario.

It was just one in a series of shipments. Mr. Rusenstrom said he met the drug plane at least 10 times at other tiny airports in the Thumb region — Marlette, Ray, Lapeer — as well as in Greenville in western Michigan and an airport in Pennsylvania. The pilot activated runway lights from the cockpit, a standard practice in aviation.

Mr. Rusenstrom, testifying at the trial of an accomplice, Robert “Romeo” D'Leone, said hundreds of airports were studied on Google Maps.

“We would go around looking for airports, seeing if there was fences or cameras,” the 21-year-old told jurors.

Mr. D'Leone, who lives in the Toronto area, stopped his trial and pleaded guilty on April 14. Mr. Rusenstrom and Mr. Moody co-operated, pleaded guilty and were recently sentenced to time served in custody. The U.S. still wants to extradite four others in Ontario who are accused of major roles, including the pilot.

Some jurors were alarmed by the revelations during the D'Leone trial.

“You always hear Homeland Security has an eye on everything. It's surprising that airfields aren't manned 24 hours,” Robert Simpson, 47, told The Associated Press.

The Sandusky airport has spent $2,000 on cameras and hopes to install more.
“We're outside radar,” Mr. Allen, the manager, said, running his finger over a map of Michigan's Thumb. “You can come and go as you please. You don't even have to file a flight plan.”

The minimal help he received from border authorities — warning signs — had to be fixed before he posted them: They referred to suspicious boats, not planes.

[What is it with Homeland Security and thinking signs are the answer!?- NANESB!]

NEW YORK: Another locale popular with smugglers and organized crime on both sides of the border is the Akwesasne Indian Reservation just outside of , which straddles the borders between New York State, Quebec and Ontario along the St Lawrence River.

The area's unique geography and patchwork of jurisdictions on both sides of the border has had the attention of smugglers and bootleggers since Prohibition. In more recent years, local residents will either run contraband across the border themselves- either in snowmobiles during wintertime or motorboats when the St Lawrence is navigable- or charge landing fees to smugglers for using their property.

Illegal immigrants, hydroponic marijuana and Ecstasy are usually smuggled into the USA from the Canadian side while illegal firearms, cocaine and untaxed tobacco or alcohol make their way north. Some estimates say that 20% of Canadian grown marijuana smuggled into the USA moves through the Akwesasne/St Regis reservation.

While there are some cigarette factories on the US side of the reservation, the sale of tax free cigarettes on reservation stores has caught the attention of groups like the 'Ndrangheta, Hells Angels and Bulgarian Mafia who will often purchase cigarettes in bulk then turn around and sell the untaxed cigarettes in high tax municipalities like New York City, Montreal or Toronto.

Terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and the Real IRA have also raised funds through trafficking untaxed cigarettes in the last decade.