Sad day there. Bad, inaccessible locale. Must've taken rescue crews longer than usual to reach the scene. Damn, a very, very sad day for all railroaders on this continent. All brothers feel and share the grieving and loss.
__________________
Hmm. That address doesnt look right. It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.
Sad news, for sure. The Union leader quoted in the article is exactly right. Too many for one company to accept as the cost of doing business.
It really reminds me of that the Wyoming wreck out FMB's way where they hit a rock and ended up down the embankment in the river. Looking at that terrain, temperature, and conditions, it looks like it could have been any number of causes. Which takes me back to thinking of the guys Hunter Harrison murdered after CN took over BC Rail.
Canadas Transportation Safety Board issued the following preliminary report on Tuesday, Feb. 5: On 04 February 2019, Canadian Pacific train 301 was proceeding westward to Vancouver when 99 cars and 2 locomotives derailed at Mile 130.6 of the Laggan Subdivision, near Field, British Columbia. The train crew consisted of a locomotive engineer, a conductor and a conductor trainee. The 3 crew members were fatally injured. What We Know The train was a Distributed Power unit grain train composed of 112 covered hopper cars and 3 locomotives. The 3 locomotives were positioned at the front, middle and rear of the train. Following the derailment, only 13 cars and the tail end locomotive remained on the track. The lead locomotive and some of the cars derailed on a curve prior to a bridge. The lead locomotive came to rest on its side in a creek. A number of derailed cars came to rest on an embankment. The remaining cars, including the mid-train remote locomotive, piled up behind. The accident took place between the Upper and the Lower Spiral Tunnel near Field, B.C. Progress To Date The investigation team has conducted the following information-gathering work: Preliminary indications are that a loss of control of the train occurred. The train had been stopped with the air brakes applied in emergency at Partridge, the last station prior to the entrance to the Upper Spiral Tunnel. A change-off between crews had occurred at this location as the previous crew were closing in on their maximum hours of service. The occurrence crew had just arrived and boarded the train but were not yet ready to depart. The train had been stopped on the grade, with the air brakes in emergency for about 2 hours when the train began to move on its own. There were no hand brakes applied on the train. The train then accelerated to a speed well in excess of maximum track speed of 20 mph for the tight curves and steep mountain grade, and derailed. Locomotive event recorder data from the lead locomotive has not yet been obtained as the lead locomotive was severely damaged in the derailment. Some data has been recovered from the tail-end remote locomotive and work is under way to obtain data from the mid-train remote locomotive. The investigation will determine how and why the loss of control took place.
Illustrations courtesy the Calgary Herald. Next steps There are currently two TSB investigators at the accident site, and two investigators are coordinating efforts from the Calgary office. The team is augmented by investigators from the TSB Engineering Lab and the TSB Human Factors Division. On site, we will continue to: Collect data from the accident site, Collect any available electronic data from the 3 locomotives, Conduct interviews, Examine and photograph the wreckage. Identify components for further examination by the TSB Engineering Lab. In addition, we will examine: Weather conditions and the railways winter operating plan. Train operations specific to the Field Hill. Operational policies for mountain grade train operations. Railway training specific to the reliability of air brakes in extreme cold temperatures Maintenance history of the rolling stock. Regulatory requirements. The TSBs investigation will determine causes and contributing factors of this accident. Concurrent investigations are being conducted by other agencies and for other purposes. Other investigating agencies include Transport Canada under an extended jurisdiction agreement with Employment and Social Development Canada Labour Program, and the BC Coroners office. The TSB will work with these agencies to ensure that those affected, including the next of kin, are provided with information about the accident and the next steps.
Field is about 50 miles west of Banff, along the Trans-Canada Highway. Sixteen cars of a CP train derailed on Jan. 3 in the same area. No one was hurt in that derailment. GoFundMe campaigns to assist the families of the deceased have been established:
General Campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/laggan-relief-fund
Paradis Family: https://www.gofundme.com/support-the-paradis-family Categories: Class I, Freight, News, Safety Tags: Breaking News, Canadian Pacific
