First day in court for CN

[CliqueofOne]

More safety questions about fatal train crash
Last Updated: May 31 2004 08:12 AM PDT

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. - CBC News has learned that the support structure for the wooden bridge that collapsed in northern B.C. last year, killing two workers, may have been in a weakened state at the time of the accident.
Two CN Rail employees were killed after their freight train plunged into a gully as it rolled over a CN bridge near McBride – east of Prince George.
Earlier this month, charges were laid against CN, alleging the company endangered its workers by failing to keep the bridge safe.
Tuesday is CN's first court appearance in connection with the fiery train derailment.
Now, CBC News has obtained court documents filed by Transport Canada as part of its investigation into the accident.
Transport Canada engineer Kris Dhawan says he discovered testing done on the wooden bridge four years before it collapsed, indicated certain parts of it were severely deteriorated.
Dhawan pointed to three specific beams where the rot was so severe that the bridge had lost 50 per cent of its structural strength – and would get worse if not repaired.
He became concerned the beams hadn't been replaced prior to last year's accident.
But CN spokesperson Jim Feeney maintains the bridge was up to standard and was safe."All inspections that should have been done on that bridge were in fact done.
"And any work that was identified as needing to be done as a result of those inspections was completed, and it was completed before the accident," he says.
But Dhawan says that when he asked a CN official for records of the repairs last summer, the supervisor immediately became evasive and nervous.
He says the CN official answered he thought some work had been done, but couldn't produce all records to back that up.
The company has since acknowledged a record keeping problem, but maintains the bridge was safe.
If CN is convicted of the safety violations the company could face fines of million of dollars.


[B)][8]

[CliqueofOne]

CN pleads not guilty in train derailment that killed two

Broadcast News

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. - CN Rail has pleaded not guilty in connection with a fatal train derailment near Mcbride in May of last year.

The company is accused of failing to ensure the safety of its employees and failing to meet sound engineering principles.

CN spokesperson Jim Feeny says it could be a while before anything substantial happens in court.

He says the company is requesting a preliminary inquiry to determine whether or not there is sufficient evidence against CN Rail.

The company is set to return to court next month but if there's a preliminary hearing it won't likely happen until early next year.

Conductor Ken LeQuesne and engineer Art McKay, both 51, died after a railway bridge collapsed plunging the first six cars of the train into a ravine.
© Broadcast News 2004


[B)][8]

[Anonymous]

Like always blame the railroads. The public is always at falt no matter how you look at it.
Drivers don't pay attention any more, don't care,the public calls the railroads their worst enemy,etc,etc.
BNSFrailfan.

[enr2099]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSF SD70MAC

Like always blame the railroads. The public is always at falt no matter how you look at it.
Drivers don't pay attention any more, don't care,the public calls the railroads their worst enemy,etc,etc.
BNSFrailfan.

A CN train plunged through a CN bridge, I don't see what this has to to with the public's lack of attention at grade crossings?? In this incident CN failed to properly maintain the bridge, it is their fault.

[Anonymous]

Oh my falt.......sorry!
BNSFrailfan.

[CliqueofOne]

21 July 2004

CN Elects Trial by Judge in McBride Case

CN Rail has elected trial by judge alone on charges involving a fatal train wreck in Northern B.C.

But a preliminary hearing must be held first to determine if there's enough evidence to bring the case to trial.

The railway has been charged with failing to protect workers' safety – and failing to ensure a rail bridge was safe.

CN employees Art McKay and Ken Lequesne died in May, 2003 when a rail bridge collapsed and their freight train plunged down a ravine near McBride.

A date for the preliminary inquiry has not been set. The case will be back in Prince George court on 20 Aug 2004. [B)][8]

[CliqueofOne]

22 July 2004

CN Pleads Not Guilty in Train Derailment that Killed Two

Prince George - CN Rail has asked court for a preliminary hearing be held into charges related to a fatal train derailment near McBride in May last year.

The company is accused of failing to ensure the safety of its employees and failing to meet sound engineering principles.

CN spokesperson Jim Feeny says it could be awhile before anything substantial happens in court.

He says the company is requesting a preliminary inquiry to determine whether or not there is sufficient evidence against CN Rail.

The company is set to return to court next month but if there's a preliminary hearing it won't likely happen until early next year.

Conductor Ken LeQuesne and engineer Art McKay, both 51-years-old, died after a railway bridge collapsed plunging the first six cars of the train into a ravine.
[B)][8]

[Junctionfan]

Finally the government is going to do something about CN lack of respect for the safety of their workers and the people around them. Why the heck do they still have wooden bridges for though?

[Anonymous]

I think I've answered 900 posts like this:

that's CN for you!

[CliqueofOne]

http://ca.fullcoverage.yahoo.com/fc/Canada/Rail_News/

http://news.google.ca/news?hl=en&ned=ca&q=cn+rail&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d&sa=N&start=10

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050224.wxrail24/BNStory/National/

By SIMON TUCK

Thursday, February 24, 2005 Updated at 9:35 AM EST

Globe and Mail Update


Ottawa — Canada's transportation watchdog is largely pointing the finger at Canadian National Railway Co. for a fatal derailment, in a report that the company wants delayed because it could affect a court case involving the same accident.

The report by the Transportation Safety Board, a draft copy of which was viewed by The Globe and Mail, says the 2003 accident can "most likely" be traced to the failure of a bridge component that was faulty and crushed under the weight of the train. The component, called a cap, was identified as a problem in a 1999 review by CN, the report says, but the TSB could find no evidence that the bridge had been fixed.

Transport Canada, the industry's regulator, issued three safety-related charges against CN in May, 2004, in connection with the accident. That case is scheduled to go before the B.C. Supreme Court in April.

CN says it is concerned it will not be able to get a fair trial if, by that time, its defence has already been published in the TSB's final report, which is expected to be released in about a month. In an e-mail to The Globe, the company said it wants the final report delayed "so that the report does not prejudice CN's right to a full and complete defence."

CN's defence does not appear in the report because the company took the unusual step of not taking part in the TSB's draft-report process.

But CN spokesman Mark Hallman said the company has a different view than the TSB of what caused the derailment on May 14, 2003. "This tragic accident was not caused by structural deficiencies in that bridge," he said.

The accident, in which two CN employees died, occurred as an 86-car train travelled eastward over a wooden trestle bridge near McBride, B.C., about 500 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. The derailment caused the first six cars to fall six to eight metres into a ravine before fire broke out. The train, travelling from Prince George to Edmonton, was carrying mostly lumber and wood pulp.

CN owns the track and the bridge where the accident occurred. The company owns about 600 of the 1,000 or so trestle bridges in operation in Canada.

The TSB, which acts as an industry watchdog, has rejected the company's request for a delay. Board spokesman Conrad Bellehumeur said officials from the federal safety agency met last week and decided to release the final report as quickly as possible. He would not comment on the contents of the draft or on the final versions of the report.

The draft document, dated Oct. 28, 2004, says the trestle bridge also suffered from rotten stringers, components important to the structure's design. It also says that CN's inspection and maintenance processes were inadequate and that audits of safety procedures were not effective. It finds no fault with either conductor Ken LeQuesne or engineer Art McKay, both of whom were killed in the crash.

The draft also points the finger, to a lesser degree, at Transport Canada. It says the department missed an important opportunity to identify deficiencies in the bridge because it did not compare CN's maintenance and inspection records with the government's audit of the company's procedures. If that had been done, those audits could have raised questions about the safety of the bridge earlier.

Transport Canada spokesman Peter Coyles said his department could not comment on an ongoing case or on a draft report from another body.

In the report, the TSB acknowledges its investigation of the accident was hurt by the destruction of the bridge, the loss of the train's event recorder and the lack of complete bridge maintenance and inspection records.

Transport Canada also conducted an investigation of the accident, which led to the federal government laying the safety-related charges against CN. The company has been charged under the Railway Safety Act with failing to ensure that rail-line work followed "sound engineering principles." CN was also charged on two counts under the Canada Labour Code for failing to ensure the safety of employees.

The TSB report also says that trestle bridges have historically been safe and that the board is aware of no other accident involving bridge failure. The report says the board is not overly concerned about further derailments on Canadian trestle bridges.