Runaway train in Vaughan was carrying dangerous goods: report

yorkregion.com
June 29, 2016
By Adam Martin-Robbins

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has launched a probe into an incident at a Vaughan railway yard that saw a train pulling dozens of railcars, including one loaded with dangerous goods, runaway and travel several kilometres down a busy stretch of track.

A train with 74 rail cars - one of which contained hazardous goods identified in a CBC news report as “a load of an ethanol/gasoline mixture” - rolled away, uncontrolled, from CN Railway’s MacMillan Yard, in the Keele and Langtsaff Road on June 17.

Chris Krepski, a Transportation Safety Board (TSB) spokesman, said in an interview that a CN yard crew was “performing a switching operation” using a remote controlled system, known as a “belt pack,” and while pulling it out onto the main track, in an attempt back into the yard, the train got away from them.

It travelled southbound for about five kilometres and reached speeds of up to 29 miles per hour (47 km/h) before coming to a stop on an uphill grade, according to Krepski.

A CN crewmember was stranded on board at the time.

The runaway train rolled along the main track of the CN York Subdivision, part of one of the busiest rail lines in Canada. But the train did not derail, no injuries were reported and there were no other locomotives coming through the area at the time, Krepski said.

CN reported the incident to the TSB and is cooperating with the probe, he added.

“We’ve begun our investigation and we’re in the data gathering phases. There’s information to gather then we have to do analysis of it and write the report,” Krepski said.

He couldn’t say how long it will take to complete its investigation and report any findings.

“Each case is a little different, but we take the time necessary to do a thorough investigation,” Krepski said.

CN spokesman Patrick Waldron said the company has conducted its own review and “has taken corrective action to prevent such incidents in the future.”

But Eddy Aceti, who lives near the MacMillan Yard and has voiced concerns about incidents there in the past, said he’s worried about the safety of area residents.

“The rail companies will claim to take corrective action to prevent these types of incidents but the truth is derailments and runaway trains continue to occur regularly,” he wrote in an email. “Not long ago it was reported in the news that (hundreds) of derailments occurred without even being reported to the TSB.”

He also noted that TSB’s website lists at least five previous incidents at the MacMillan Yard.

“Imposing more strict regulation on our rail industry may slightly reduce profit margins but it will not bring the Canadian economy to a screeching halt, so I fail to see why the industry should risk another Lac-Megantic tragedy,” he said.

Forty-seven people died in the Quebec town, back in 2013, when a runaway freight train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded.