HALIFAX — A federal report into a Via Rail crash in Nova Scotia last spring found a number of safety problems, including poorly lit emergency signs and unsecured beds in sleeping cars, according to a wire service reports.
The April 12 derailment, in Stewiacke, N.S., sent passenger cars hurtling into a building long the tracks. Nine rail company workers and 13 passengers on the Halifax to Montreal run were hurt in the crash, which popped seats out of benches and tossed dining-room chairs and folding armchairs into aisles, said the report by the Transportation Safety Board.
The report, obtained under the Access to Information Act, examined five passenger train accidents between July, 1999, and April, 2001, in Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
While the report said the safety problems, from flying glass to unsecured furniture, do not pose a significant risk to passengers, in combination they indicate “a possible systemic risk situation.”
Since the accident, Via Rail has dealt directly with the two recommendations arising from the board’s findings, said Malcolm Andrews, a Via spokesman. “In tragic situations, such as what happened in Stewiacke, we always look for opportunities to improve what is already a long-standing excellent track record in terms of safety,” he said. “Potentially, situations like that could be far worse if not for learning from past experiences.”
In the Stewiacke crash, the most seriously injured people were in the twisted wreckage of the dining room and the domed observation cars — one of which came to rest on the roof of a feed store.
Attempts by passengers to escape were stymied by a glass panel that covered an emergency exit window. When opened, the panel continued to obstruct the exit despite repeated attempts by the trapped passengers to smash it.
Three employees in the dining car’s kitchen were trapped as the floor and ceiling buckled, preventing escape from either door, the report said. The board’s report also found that some emergency signs did not give instructions on how to open exit doors, and were not visible under smoky, or dark conditions in some cars.
Since the accident, Transport Canada says Via has issued instructions to their employees to inspect all locking mechanisms on sleeping cars. A 14-year-old boy from Stewiacke, N.S., will go on trial in January on charges of mischief and criminal negligence related to the derailment. His identity is protected under the Young Offenders Act.
RCMP have centred their investigation on a railway switch and lock that was tampered with before the cars were violently wrenched off the track.