Stoney Creek British Columbia - In its investigation
report R15V0003 into the January 2015 Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) derailment near Stoney Creek, British Columbia, released today, the Transportation
Safety Board of Canada (TSB) concluded that not following marshalling rules appropriate to the route contributed to the occurrence.
There were no injuries and no dangerous goods were involved.
On 13 Jan 2015, a CP freight train travelling westward on the north main track of the Mountain Subdivision derailed 6 empty platforms near Stoney Creek,
British Columbia.
The derailment occurred on the Stoney Creek Bridge at Mile 76.7.
The investigation determined that the six empty platforms from two intermodal flat cars derailed when the train was proceeding under high power in an 8.75
degree curve while ascending a 2.2 percent grade.
The train had been re-routed due to impending train delays and congestion on the adjacent track.
Believing that the revised routing was operationally acceptable, the train crew did not completely re-verify the train for all applicable marshalling
conditions, despite marshalling violations identified by Train Area Marshalling (TrAM), CP's computerized train marshalling tool.
Further, the investigation determined that there were no specific instructions for re-verifying a train for TrAM violations before it is re-routed.
In addition, the director of rail traffic control was in a fatigued state at the time the decision was made to re-route the train, however, it could not be
determined whether fatigue played a role in the director not verifying that the train was TrAM compliant.
Following the occurrence, CP made changes to its rail equipment scanner system to provide TrAM violation alerts when a train marshalling restriction is
identified after a train passes the scanner.
The railway company also made changes to the roles and responsibilities of the rail traffic controller with respect to TrAM.
CP's General Operating Instructions were also updated.
Anonymous Author.