The Transportation Safety Board is calling for more safety mechanisms to avoid runaway rail cars.
The TSB’s announcement comes after its investigation into a rail car that detached in Saskatoon about two years ago.
An empty CP rail car separated from a train in the Sutherland neighbourhood, rolling down the track for nearly two kilometers and through two public railway crossings.
CP says it was “human error” that caused the detachment. The train ended up stopping on the main line. No one was injured.
The TSB’s investigation report stated that “current defences are not sufficient to reduce the number of uncontrolled movements and improve safety.”
Physical defences ensure railway equipment is secure — they include mechanisms such as a derail device, which is placed on tracks and aimed to intervene with rail cars to ensure they do not keep rolling.
According to the TSB, the Sutherland yard does not have a derail.
Over the past 10 years, there were 541 instances involving uncontrolled movements in Canada, with 56 per cent ending in a crash.
