(The Globe and Mail posted the following article by Vivian Moreau on its website on April 17.)
WHISTLER, B.C. — Three of the seven locomotives of a Canadian National Railway train that derailed near Squamish last August were not running, according to the chief investigator into the accident.
One of the five front locomotives and two remote locomotives located two-thirds from the lead engine were not operational at the time of the derailment, George Fowler of the Transportation Safety Board confirmed.
“They would serve no purpose other than to provide two very heavy freight cars,” Mr. Fowler said. “That’s all they are is a drag.”
Mr. Fowler has just finished a 25-page draft report examining the causes of the accident that wiped out an estimated 500,000 salmon, steelhead and trout after one tank car split in the derailment, spilling sodium hydroxide into the Cheakamus River.
The main focus for the three-member investigative team has been to determine how many locomotives were running Aug. 5 and what effect the inoperational locomotives had on the train’s ability to negotiate the canyon’s steep grades and sharp curves.
“You have to apply basic physics to figure out exactly what happened,” Mr. Fowler said.
The investigators have interviewed the train crew and former B.C. Rail and CN employees to determine what factors led to the derailment. In addition to looking at how rested, well-trained and familiar the crew were with the territory, the safety board team zeroed in on how the 2,800-metre train was “marshalled” or put together.
“We looked at what kind of train was this, how it was made up, how many cars and locomotives did it have, where the locomotives were made,” Mr. Fowler said.
They found that remote locomotives placed two-thirds back from the lead were within federal guidelines, but that the remotes and one lead engine brought on shortly before the derailment, were not operational.
CN maintains the train left Vancouver equipped with one remote locomotive located two-thirds from the lead engine to distribute power but would not comment further on other aspects of the derailment.
The 144-car northbound train had only three loaded cars and Mr. Fowler said extra care has to be taken operating long trains with empty cars in Cheakamus Canyon.
“That line is probably one of the most challenging for railroads in this country . . . and empty cars are light and don’t necessarily like to follow the rails around a curve.”
Last November, the federal minister of transport ordered CN to restrict the length of trains travelling northbound up the Cheakamus Canyon to 80 cars, but later amended the order to 114 if operational remote locomotives are placed correctly.
B.C.’s Minister of Environment has said that CN could face fines of $1-million if found negligent in the derailment.
Canadian National Railway mainline derailments jumped 35 per cent across the country last year. The safety board said CN had 103 domestic main-track derailments in 2005 last year, up from 76 the previous year.
The safety board’s draft report of the accident’s investigation will go to CN and Transport Canada for input before a final draft is released in August.