(CBC News Vancouver posted the following article on its website on May 20. Gary J. Holmes is a member of BLE Division 843 in Prince George, B.C., and belonged to the same Division as Art P. McKay, one of the two men killed in the May 14 bridge collapse and derailment.)
MCBRIDE, B.C. — A veteran VIA Rail engineer says CN crews erected scaffolding last year under the same rail bridge that collapsed last week an accident that claimed the lives of two CN workers.
Gary Holmes says he expected to see repair work on the bridge, but says the scaffolding was dismantled without any work being done.
“We were told that the work had been cancelled,” he says.
CN Rail says the scaffolding was probably just helping engineers complete their yearly inspection of the bridge.
But Holmes isn’t so sure. “They were probably out there a week erecting this thing,” he says. “I don’t think they would put all that effort into it just for an inspection.”
CN Rail says the bridge had just been inspected before the fatal accident, and there was nothing wrong with it.
“I can say conclusively, with absolute certainty, if any work needed to be done, it would have been done,” says CN spokesperson Jim Feeny.The two men killed in the derailment have been identified as Kenneth Gordon LeQuesne and Arthur Patterson McKay. Both were 51 years old.
A funeral is being held in Prince George on Tuesday for McKay, who was a safety co-ordinator for CN until that position was eliminated.The service for LeQuesne will be held on Saturday.