Dangerous Trace CP Train 301

[Notch 8]

Dangerous Trace.
Site of the fatal derailment of British Columbia challenged The Canadian Pacific for over a century
By Justin Franz-06/02/2019

Field, British Columbia - this week's fatal derailment in British Columbia, which took the life of three rail, is not the first time the tragedy has hit the rugged laggan subdivision.

Kicking horse pass, which houses the iconic spiral tunnels of CP and known by local rail as "the big hill", has been the site of several derailments and leaks in the last century. In fact, one of the first construction trains to descend from the level when it was completed in 1884, derailed along the kicking horse river, killing three people.

"this is one of the most challenging railway territories in all of North America", says James Carmichael, a senior investigator on the security council in Canada who is investigating Monday's derailment.

The Grain Train that derailed in the early hours of the morning of February 4 had three locomotives - one leader, one in the middle and one in the rear - and 112 covered hoppers. According to researchers, the train was parked with the emergency brakes applied in the partridge east of the upper spiral tunnel for about two hours before a new crew took over the train. Usually, crew changes occur 8 miles west in the field. Investigators did not explain why the emergency brakes were applied or why the crew exchange happened at partridge during a press conference on Tuesday.

Soon after the new crew embarked on the train, "began to move on their own". the crew could not slow down or stop the train, which rolled for three kilometers before derailing between the tunnels of the upper and lower spiral.

According to the investigators, 99 cars derailed in three different locations. The main locomotive derailed on a bridge and fell nearly 200' into the kicking horse river, killing all three crew members. According to pc officers, the three-person crew included driver Dylan Paradis, Engineer Andrew Dockrell and trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer. All three men were from the Calgary area.

Researchers are currently trying to get information from the locomotive event records to determine how fast the train was going when it derailed. The speed limit through the spiral tunnels is 20 mph.

The route over the kicking horse pass was built for the first time in 1884 and at some point it had a 4,5 % degree of lake wapata, near the border between Alberta and British Columbia and field. Runaways on the steep route were common and at least three spurs were built on the hill. The switches were aligned to the spurs and were only exchanged for the main when an engineer whistled to inform an operator that the train was under control.

In 1909, the pc completed the spiral tunnels that reduced the level through the kicking horse pass to 2,2 percent.

But even with the easiest degree, rail transport in "the big hill" is still a challenging proposal and derailments and setbacks have occurred over the decades. Canada's transportation safety board investigated at least three incidents in the subdivision subdivision between partridge and field in the last 23 years.

In April 1996, a train heading west, crossing the spiral tunnels, went into emergency as a result of a loss of radio communication between the locomotives at the end of the train's headboard and two remote locomotives in the middle of the trains. The Air of the train was sold out after several brake applications and instead of restoring the air pressure while the train was stopped, the engineer decided to do it in motion. While the train continued through the lower spiral tunnel, the engineer lost control and rolled for six miles to stop at field. No one was hurt and no equipment was damaged.

In December 1997, a train in the west direction was put in emergency near partridge due to a series of inadequate train handling decisions. The crew decided to restore the brakes while moving and trying to use the dynamic brakes to control the train as it descended the train. Degree. The Engineer lost control of the train near the upper spiral tunnel and applied the emergency brakes, but could not stop. The rear end of the detached train from the head end and 16 cars derailed within the upper spiral tunnel. The end of the train's head continued down and reached speeds of 50 miles per hour. Another 50 cars cars, when the driving force broke out and the engineer managed to keep the locomotives under control and continue in the field. No one was hurt. Tsb's investigation attributed the derailment to the bad management of the train,

On January 3, 15 cars from a train in the west direction derailed within the upper spiral tunnel. The cause of this derailment is still under investigation.

On Monday, the president and CEO of the pc, Keith Creel, called the derailment of a "tragedy" and promised to find out what caused a train to derail while descending the kicking horse pass.

"this is a tragedy that will have a lasting impact on our railway family", said creel in a statement on Monday. " the incident is under investigation and we are not going to speculate right now about a cause - we owe it to those involved to do what is
Source-http://trn.trains.com