(The Canadian Press circulated the following article on May 12.)
OTTAWA — Canadian National Railway Co. faces federal charges a year after two employees died when a wooden trestle collapsed and the front of a freight train plunged into a ravine near McBride, B.C.
The crash in a remote area of the Cariboo region near the Alberta border last May 14 killed the engineer and conductor, the only people on the 86-car eastbound train. Transport Canada said Tuesday that charges have been laid under the Railway Safety Act and the Canada Labour Code.
The Railway Safety Act charge alleges that Canada’s largest railway company did not ensure that work on the line was done in accordance with sound engineering principles.
The Labour Code counts state that CN failed to ensure worker health and safety “by failing to ensure that the bridge structure at Mile 7.9 would support the loading of the train operating over it, the direct result of which was the death of two employees.”
The first six cars of the train fell into the ravine with the trestle, which CN said had been inspected two days previously.
Via Rail uses the same line for its Skeena service between the resort town of Jasper, Alta., and the port of Prince Rupert, B.C.
The crash started a fire which raged for a day before workers recovered the remains of conductor Ken LeQuesne and engineer Art McKay, both 51 years old and from Prince George, B.C., and each with 30 years of railway experience.