(The Canadian Press circulated the following story on September 15.)
HALIFAX — A railway track that was banked too steeply caused a spectacular derailment in northern Nova Scotia that prompted school closures and the evacuation of nearby homes, the Transportation Safety Board says.
Six of the 10 derailed cars contained potentially explosive propane and butane when they tumbled off the track in the middle of the night on April 18.
The board’s lead investigator on the case confirmed this week that one side of the curving embankment at Sutherlands River, in rural Pictou County, was too high.
“What we found in the area where the derailment occurred was the curves … were banked steeper than they were required to be,” said Don Ross.
The embankments, similar to those created on highway curves to keep cars from sliding off the road, were built for passenger trains, rather than the slower freight trains that now use the 280-kilometre route between Truro and Sydney.
Mr. Ross also said the tracks’ wooden ties had deteriorated, and there were portions where the distance between the rail — known as the track gauge — was “out of regulation.”
The track belongs to the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway.
When the accident occurred, the propane and butane cars plunged into a soft, marshy area. Car wheels were scattered on both sides of the rail bed, while twisted track and chewed up wooden ties were strewn about the site.
Four people from nearby homes were evacuated and classes at two schools were cancelled.
The company — one of 47 owned by U.S.-based Rail America — confirmed Tuesday that the steep banking of the curve was the primary cause of the accident.
Peter Touesnard, spokesman for the railway, said the company has since found about 50 other spots where it has to fix the angle of the tracks.
“We’ll be bringing the banking of these curves down to a level that is sufficient for freight trains as opposed to the original design,” he said in an interview.
“We’ve identified a number of locations … between Port Hawkesbury and Truro and we’re looking at a program over the next three years that will be somewhere in the neighbourhood of $500,000.”
The company took over operation of the line in the 1990s from CN Rail, as larger railway companies throughout North America sold off their less profitable lines to short-line companies.
Asked why the problems weren’t fixed then, Mr. Touesnard replied: “The banking was within Transport Canada guidelines, but it allowed us very little room for error.”
The line is regulated by the provincial government, which has adopted federal standards and hires Transport Canada to monitor the track.
A spokesman for Transport Canada declined comment when asked whether the department is satisfied with the measures taken by Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia railway to prevent future derailments.
“We provide findings to the province and it’s up to the province to ask further measures to be taken,” said Maurice Landry.
Steve Newson, spokesman for the provincial Transportation Department, said he hadn’t seen a copy of the board’s draft report, nor had he heard from the company about its plans to fix the track.
“If that was the cause, then obviously they are expected to correct the situation when they put the new track in,” he said.