Canadian Pacific ordered to correct alleged rail safety violation

Author: Reuters | Sep 10 2015 at 10:41 PM | Category: Intermodal  Rail  

TORONTO - Canada’s transport regulator has ordered Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd to address a new alleged safety violation after it found the company was not carrying out a mandatory brake safety test on some of its trains in Western Canada, according to a letter obtained by Reuters. An inspector from Transport Canada told the company in the Sept. 3 letter that it had confirmed CP was not doing a required emergency brake test on trains originating in Moose Jaw, a town in the Canadian prairie province of Saskatchewan. “This information has been confirmed by conversations with Moose Jaw mechanical supervisors and staff that this is the current process,” the inspector wrote in the letter. The test checks whether brakes are applied on the last car of a train when emergency brakes are activated from the locomotive controlling the train, the letter said. Transport Canada said in a statement that it could take further action if it observes continued non-compliance or if it is dissatisfied with the company’s response. A spokesman for the railway said in a statement that it was reviewing the letter. CP was investigated in June for allegedly failing to apply adequate brakes when parking a train carrying oil on a mountain slope in British Columbia. Emergency brakes and railway safety have been areas of special concern since July 2013 when a runaway train crashed, killing 47 people and destroying buildings in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic. That train was operated by the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Canada Railway Ltd and its affiliate. In an internal newsletter on Thursday, the union representing CP’s rail car mechanics said it told the regulator about the latest issue after the company instructed workers to stop doing the emergency brake test on the last car of trains from Moose Jaw. The regulator asked CP in its Sept. 3 letter to provide details of action to correct the alleged violation of Canada’s Railway Safety Act within 14 days.

© Copyright 1999–2024 American Journal of Transportation. All Rights Reserved