VIA PASSANGER TRAIN DERAILS

[Anonymous]

At about 2 PM this afternoon, VIA Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver derailed west of Edmonton Alberta.
News says it hit a logging truck at a level crossing. Eight cars derailed. Two Locos on their side.
Surprizingly, no serious injuries.

Check CBC.ca news

[miniwyo]

At least no one was hurt. This has certianly been a bad railroading month.

[railman]

The main and important thing-nobody got hurt.

[jchnhtfd]

It didn't hit a logging truck. The dad-burned logging truck hit it, on the baggage car. Darwin's law again...

[Anonymous]

I/'m glad that no FP-7s or FP-9s were involved !

[THayman]

Good chance none of them would be, seeing as Via retired all of them ages ago, except on some northern branch runs.

[Anonymous]

Saw a picture of that accident in the Vancouver Sun this morning, it's hard to believe that nobody was seriously injured.

[siberianmo]

Absolutely pleased that serious injuries or deaths did not occur with Monday's collision between truck and train. It surely could have been far worse. Having had the opportunity to travel on board the Canadian (four times) for the entire route, I can tell you that someone was looking out for those folks, for sure.

The Budd cars (which for some inexplicable reason, VIA Rail refers to as HEP cars - Head End Power) are a treasure in passenger railroading. As with all of us, age does take a toll and I hope that all of the cars can be repaired for return to full operation. What a shame to witness the passing of those great cars into history.

Anyway, back to the incident. I had the experience of being a passenger in an Amtrak train that collided with a pick up truck at a rural crossing. Score: Amtrak 1 Truck zero. Isn't that the way? Why oh why do these things happen? I really do know why - and it comes down to, "You can fix stupid!"

By the way, if any of you are interested in discussing Via Rail - try out another discussion room at http://groups.msn.com/viarailcanada .

Bon jour,
Siberianmo

[Anonymous]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20050201/ca_pr_on_na/via_derail_10

Tue Feb 1, 4:38 PM ET


MACKAY, Alta. (CP) - CN's main line reopened Tuesday as investigators began combing through wreckage to determine what caused a logging truck to push a Via Rail train off its tracks.



There were no serious injuries in Monday's accident, which briefly stranded westbound Via passengers and delayed a Via train to Toronto for eight hours. Two Transportation Safety Board inspectors were at the site of the collision, which took place about 140 km west of Edmonton at a marked crossing in clear weather.


"They'll be taking a look at the crossing itself, the mechanical aspects of the truck that collided with the train . . . and they'll be downloading data from the locomotive event recorder," said board spokesman John Cottreau.


The device records the train's speed before impact and whether the engineer had time to hit the brakes.


Both locomotives and eight of the nine cars derailed, but all stayed upright.


CN crews worked overnight Monday using cranes and heavy machinery to move damaged passenger cars off the tracks and the locomotives to a nearby siding. Workers then tore up and replaced the damaged rails and ties.


"The line is in safe operating condition and train operations have resumed," said CN spokesman Jim Feeny.


"There's a temporary speed restriction on the trains until we complete the repairs."


The Vancouver-bound train was carrying 86 passengers and 15 crew members.


About half the passengers were taken to Jasper, Alta., and the other half went by bus to Edmonton, where they spent the night in hotels. Via Rail was expected to get the passengers to their destinations on Tuesday.


"There was a bus from Jasper going to Kamloops and Vancouver," said Seychelle Harding, a spokeswoman for Via Rail in Montreal.


"Then we had two passengers who wanted to go back to Edmonton and decided to go back home to Moncton, New Brunswick. We flew them home as well."


About four dozen other Via passengers and six crew members decided to fly to Vancouver from Edmonton and two passengers and two crew members were flown to Winnipeg.


RCMP say the logging truck was trying to cross in front of the westbound train when the crash occurred.


The truck's driver, a 44-year-old man from nearby Edson, was recovering in an Edmonton hospital in stable condition, said Cpl. Wayne Oakes.


His name was not released and there was no word on any charges.


Via Rail praised the residents of the small community of MacKay and emergency officials for their quick response.

Townspeople had all the passengers in the community hall within an hour of the crash and gave them plenty of food and coffee.

Other companies that use the crossing say there are plenty of warnings when drivers are approaching the tracks.

Flashing amber lights overhead alert drivers they're approaching a 50-kilometre-per-hour zone as they get closer to the tracks on Secondary Highway 751.

"All traffic goes too fast on that road," said Wayne Petz, the owner of King Lumber, a logging and skidding company in Mackay.

"Some go so fast, you can see daylight underneath. A lot of people will pay attention now, at least for a while," he said.

"Maybe the RCMP should monitor it more regularly. I'm worried next time it's going to be a school bus full of kids."

The train, Via Rail's flagship called the Canadian, had left Toronto Saturday and was due in Vancouver Tuesday morning.

Feeny said the crossing was marked with lights and bells and added they were operational at the time.

[trainboyH16-44]

This is why there should be safety stripes on all cars.
Matthew Hicks

[tatans]

This could be the end to those old Budd cars, there can't be too many left running here in Canada, also they say the truck hit the baggage car yet there was extensive damage to the locomotives, I doubt they will repair these coaches, but there was more than 1 set made, where are the others????

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tatans

This could be the end to those old Budd cars, there can't be too many left running here in Canada, also they say the truck hit the baggage car yet there was extensive damage to the locomotives, I doubt they will repair these coaches, but there was more than 1 set made, where are the others????

There are still a couple of Budd cars running up and down Vancouver Island, I believe 2 are operational and one is used for parts.

[tatans]

The Cowichan Budd cars are the self-propelled cars, the Budd cars on the derailment were old "Canadian" coaches built by Budd, domes, sleepers, diners etc. some self-propelled Budds are running in Manitoba also.