(The Canadian Press circulated the following on June 5.)
OTTAWA — The Transportation Safety Board has called for the removal of 12,000 wheel sets still in use on some Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX:CP), Canadian National Railway (TSX:CNR) and U.S. freight cars, warning the suspect wheels could result in more derailments.
In a report issued Thursday on a derailment near Buckskin, Ont., in January 2006, the safety board blamed a problem with the wheel sets that the industry has known about since 2001.
But although the railways initiated a recall in late 2002 of the wheel sets, which can come loose on curves and steep grades, this failed to locate all of the 43,000 sets produced between 1998 and 2001 by the CN Transcona wheel shop in Winnipeg.
The board said at least 18 derailments in Canada have been caused by the faulty wheel sets, and it believes 12,000 are still in circulation, mounted on between 3,000 and 4,000 freight cars in North America.
“There was a deficiency in the recall action. Basically, it missed about one-third of the wheel sets,” said safety board investigator Don Mustard.
“Our feeling is that 12,000 is a significant number and with the derailments we’ve had there is a potential for a serious occurrence, so we feel it’s important that they implement a means to remove these wheel sets.”
He said the wheel sets could be on trains that carry hazardous materials.
But CNR and CPR spokesmen said they were confident the “vast majority” of the defective wheels sets have been removed in Canada.
CNR spokesman Bryan Tucker said the 12,000 number for the wheel sets outstanding in North America might be high, since that particular wheel set had a life expectancy of only five to six years.
“We are comfortable in saying the vast majority are already off,” Tucker said. “We inspect all our wheels throughout the system both mechanically and in this case we did visual inspections car by car.”
Canadian Pacific spokesman Michael Lovecchio had an almost identical response.
“Our feeling is we have removed the vast majority from our property,” he said. “We feel the problem has been addressed.”
The board has notified the Department of Transport that it should “ensure that all 36-inch Canadian National Transcona wheel shop wheel sets assembled between April 1998 and February 2001 be removed from cars operating in Canada.” It also has contacted U.S. rail authorities because of the close integration of the continental rail system.
But the CNR spokesman suggested little more needs to be done. He said one of the safety board’s recommendations – that the industry initiate a reliable tracking system for car wheels – has been in place since 2004.
“We are required to track the identity of the manufacturers, the date of birth and the serial number of our wheels,” he said.
In the Buckskin crash, the safety board said there was undetected damage to the wheel and its mounting point on the axle, “leading to micro-movement that progressively loosened the wheel until a combination of lateral and rotational forces displaced the wheel inboard.”
The derailment damaged 18 kilometres of track as the freight train continued on its way until the affected car hit a switch, causing 11 additional cars to derail and 130 metres of track to be destroyed. There were no hazardous goods involved and no injuries resulted.
Inspector Mustard said there were also no injuries or release of dangerous materials in the other 17 Canadian derailments involving the faulty wheel sets. The board does not know how many derailments might have occurred in the U.S. under similar circumstances.
But he said it is important to identify any wheel sets still in use because the risk of failure increases with the time they are in operation.