There was a question concerning how the wreck occurred and whether or not it might be y2k related. Apparently, this one was not.

Fair use for education and discussion only

Investigators say switch in wrong position caused Via crash

Same problem behind April crash that killed two

Graeme Hamilton National Post

Investigators of Sunday's Via Rail derailment in Miramichi, N.B., confirmed yesterday that a switch locked in the wrong position caused the passenger train to veer off the main line and crash into loaded freight cars.

The crash, which injured 30 people including five seriously, has renewed concerns about the safety of the manually operated switches found in remote areas across the country. An improperly set switch was also responsible for the crash last April in Thamesville, Ont., that killed two Via Rail engineers.

"It was found lined for the side track and it was locked in that position," Jim Harris, a spokesman for the Transportation Safety Board, said of the Miramichi track. "We know what happened, it's just why did it happen."

Investigators began interviewing yard crew yesterday to assess how the section of track is operated and what kind of training workers responsible for the switches receive. They will also study the visibility of painted signs that are supposed to alert a train's engineer if the switch is set the wrong way.

New Brunswick East Coast Railway Inc. took over operation of the track in January, 1998, from CN. A spokesman said the railway is still trying to determine how the switch got left in the wrong position.

The Transportation Safety Board first raised concerns about the manually operated switches in recommendations made to the transport minister in 1993 and 1994. It noted that a 1990 regulatory change had left more room for human error, and that between 1991 and 1994 there were at least six incidents in which trains were directed onto the wrong track.

It identified a "potential for serious collisions or derailments."

Terry Burtch, director-general of rail safety for Transport Canada, said most of the safety board's recommendations were acted on. One recommendation, that the department sponsor research into an electronic system to alert rail crews when switches are misaligned, was not. Mr. Burtch said the technology was found not to be feasible. "There's a fairly extensive body of regulations and rules in place that provide procedures to try and prevent this from happening. Of course from time to time there are slip-ups," he said. The department will be looking to the investigations of the Miramichi and Thamesville crashes to see if changes are needed.

Sunday's crash was less serious because the train, carrying 127 people to Halifax from Montreal, was just a kilometre out of the station and had not hit full speed. Investigators with the Transportation Safety Board will be analyzing a data recorder from the train to determine how fast it was travelling and when the brakes were applied. The person most seriously injured was a crew member scalded in the dining car when hot water splashed out of a pan. Seven cars and two locomotives derailed, causing mainly cuts and bruises.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news.asp?f=000201/192148&s2=national&s3=coasttocoast

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 01, 2000

Answers

This is a bogus explanation. I used to work for a railroad (over 14 years). If a switch is lined up for a siding, their should have been a signal indiction if the track was occupied. This is 1930's level technology. It sounds more like human error; didn't pay attention to signals or switch lineups.

-- Sure M. Hopeful (Hopeful@future.com), February 01, 2000.

"There should have been a visible indication" and there probably was. But an ordinary manual switch stand is a meter high at most and blowing snow could easily obscure it. I've been on a highway near Timmins (400 miles north of Toronto) in that kind of situation with the whiteout running four feet deep. I had to turn back and wait a day for the wind to stop. It was a clear day but the snow fallen earlier was powdery and the wind kept a lot of it suspended above the ground.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), February 01, 2000.