derailment

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) is pointing to increased stress on the rails from heavy train traffic as a contributing cause to a derailment west of Fort Frances.

Thirteen cars carrying canola seed from a 134-car CN freight train left the track near Devlin on June 28th.

In its review, the Safety Board states that it identified signs of rail creep, described as a sign of stress in the rails that can lead to them becoming out of alignment and buckling.

“Unless the underlying compressive stress is addressed, rail creep grows increasingly more pronounced over time,” the report states.

“Rail creep is more detrimental when it is unidirectional, which occurs when there is a significant imbalance in the traffic tonnage in one direction as opposed to the other, as in the case of the Fort Frances Subdivision.

The TSB believes the track had been under stress for some time.

It also noted a similar incident related to track buckling three weeks earlier elsewhere that resulted in the derailment of eleven rail cars.

The report states that CN was in the process of making repairs earlier that month, but stopped short of the accident area to focus on repairs elsewhere.

“This left the section of track from Mile 100.42 to the crossing at Mile 101.46 (the next fixed location), including the point of derailment at Mile 101.1, particularly vulnerable to track buckling; however, the area in the vicinity of the derailment was not protected by a slow order,” the report states.

An inspection of the tracks using a hi-rail vehicle took place two days before the accident, but no defects were noted.

While acknowledging that track inspections were performed regularly by CN, and the frequency met or exceeded the minimum requirements, the TSB wrote Transport Canada to suggest that a review of CN maintenance and inspection practices along the Fort Frances Subdivision take place.

Transport Canada has responded by saying it would conduct a track inspection this year.