HORNEPAYNE — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has released its final report into a 2020 rail incident near Hornepayne, where a hi-rail vehicle parked on the tracks was destroyed by a train.
The agency on Tuesday released its investigative report into the incident, finding that the vehicle was parked outside the limits of the area of track specified in the track occupancy permit that was issued to the CN signal maintainer.
The collision happened on Nov. 28, 2020, involving an eastbound CN freight train headed toward Hornepayne. The track vehicle was destroyed, while the train's lead locomotive had minor damage. Nobody was injured.
The train, which had 96 loaded cars and was about 1.8 kilometres long, did not derail from the tracks.
The report found that the signal maintainer had requested and received a track occupancy permit, but parked the track vehicle beyond the approved boundary and into the train's route when he began his testing work.
When the train crew realized the vehicle was in their path, the engineer used its emergency air brake but was unable to stop in time. The train did not derail during the collision.
The report found the day of the collision was the first shift that the signal maintainer worked alone in the area, and had limited experience requesting track occupancy permits.
As a result of the incident, a Transport Canada investigation found that the employee's actions were not in accordance with the Canadian Rail Operating Rules and fined CN.
Since the collision, CN has developed an app for maintenance-of-way employees to alert them when they've reached the boundaries of their limits of authority.