VANCOUVER Crew shortages may be to blame for a 2007 Canadian National Railway Co. collision that sent gasoline-fed flames skyward and spilling down the banks of the Fraser River in Prince George, the Toronto Globe and Mail reports.
The derailment happened after crew shortages pressed inexperienced CN managers into weekend service, said a Transportation Safety Board report of the August, 2007, incident issued Tuesday.
Although considered qualified from a regulatory perspective [the managers] were inadequately trained and experienced, investigator Peter Hickli said. They had never handled that amount of cars that amount of tonnage, down that grade.
At the time of the accident, two CN management employees were using a remote control system to move cars north from a Prince George yard. But as the train headed down a slight decline, the manager operating the train was radioed by an oncoming southbound train entering the yard on the same track. The heavily-loaded 53-car train had too little time to stop before hitting the oncoming train in process of switching tracks.
The crash punctured the gasoline-filled 13th car of the train heading south into the yard and also derailed the car behind it. While no one was injured in the crash, approximately 170,000 litres of gasoline was spilled between the two cars, most of which was consumed by flames. Two locomotives, a flatcar loaded with lumber and one other car from the remote-controlled train also went up in the blaze.
The accident was witnessed from across the Fraser River at the nearby Paddle Wheel Park. Onlookers heard emergency horn blasts shortly before the collision, and watched in horror as two locomotives and one other car derailed down the riverbank. As the ensuing blaze sent black smoke skyward, fire bombers dumped loads of water onto the wreckage to contain the flames.
According to the TSB report, the practice of occasionally pressing management employees into crew service is cause for some concern. The TSB report notes the train operator, an area superintendent for CN, had operated the remote system only twice before, both times with fewer cars and a shorter period of time. Transport Canada is currently investigating CN's use of management employees in train operations, Mr. Hickli said.
CN spokeswoman Kelli Svendson insisted the crash was an anomaly, saying accidents like it have been decreasing over the past seven years.
We're reviewing the final investigation report, Ms. Svendson said. In CN's view, the employees were experienced, they were well rested, and were trained to perform the duties they were performing.
(This item appeared April 1, 2009, in the Globe and Mail.)
Imagine that. CN using supervisors who don't really know what they're doing but they're the boss. I sure am glad we don't all work for a pike that would make such poor decisions. Calls for a big sigh of relief.
Imagine that. CN using supervisors who don't really know what they're doing but they're the boss. I sure am glad we don't all work for a pike that would make such poor decisions. Calls for a big sigh of relief.
It's happening here all the time!!! We see CN crews that are crewed by 1 hogger and 2 management types. They leave shit foul all the time and we hear hoggers on the CN radio channels reporting to RTC's that "the management conductor wants me to foul a red board, can I get clarification OVER?"
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Gentlemen, we all must realize that neither side has any monopoly on sons of bitches. C.D. Howe (in Washington to resolve a shipping dispute)
