Workers fight a fire Feb. 16 after a crude oil train derailment south of south of Timmins, Ontario.
Rail fractures, defects led to fiery derailment west of Edmonton: TSB
John Cotter, The Canadian Press CTV News 02/24/15
-- video at site--
EDMONTON -- A report says rail fractures and undetected defects led to a fiery train derailment that forced people west of Edmonton to flee their homes.The Transportation Safety Board says 13 cars carrying propane and oil on the westbound Canadian National (TSX:CNR) freight train derailed in October 2013 because there were rail breaks along a curve in a siding near the community of Gainford.
One of the derailed propane tank cars was punctured and exploded into a fireball. Two other propane cars also caught fire. The oil tank cars were damaged but did not leak.
The board says the rail in the Gainford siding that failed was old and near the end of its life span. It was inspected two months before the derailment.
The report says railways need to keep the surface of rails clean and smooth or there is a risk that ultrasonic tests won't detect flaws in the metal.
"These defects, they grow over time, and they get to the point where they can no longer support the load and they snap," George Fowler, a civil engineer with the safety board, said Tuesday at a news conference.
"And that is what happened in this particular case. That one defect snapped the rail and the whole derailment resulted in the pileup of the (liquefied petroleum gas) cars and crude oil cars."
Although no one was hurt, more than 120 people were forced to evacuate the hamlet for four days. Almost 200 metres of track was destroyed and a house directly north of the derailment was damaged....... more here
see also:
Canada: Oil train derailment shows safety rules inadequate
Standards that went into effect last year fall short, board says
Government Warns 'Bomb Trains' Could Cause Hundreds of Deaths and Billions of Dollars in Damages - Vice News
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