CP train left without hand brakes above Revelstoke, B.C.: warrant

Canadian Pacific Railwayis facing allegations it parked a train of 57 loaded rail cars, some carryingdangerousgoods,unattendedin the darkon a mountain slope above Revelstoke, B.C., without applyinghand brakesin breach of emergency directives made after the Lac-Mgantic disaster.

Transport Canada investigators raided CP's headquarters in Calgary last month andseized recordings of radio calls between managers, rail traffic controllers and train crews,trying to piece together what occurred on the night of Feb.14-15, CBC News haslearned.

• Read more CBC Investigates stories

Investigators accuse the company and superintendent Mark Jacksonof ordering a juniorconductor and engineer to leave dozensof railcars unattended without hand brakes applied, according to search warrantdocuments, in violationof edicts from Transport Minister Lisa Raitt.

"It isa bit disturbing," said Revelstokefire Chief Rob Girard, on learning of the allegations. "Certainly [after]Lac-Mgantic,I thought we would have learned some lessons."

Transport Canada has not laid any charges and theallegations have not been tested in court.

The incident

The crew of Train 401 weredescending CP's Mountain Subdivision approaching Revelstoke, a town of about 7,000 in southeastern B.C.,nearing the end of their shift on the night of Feb.14, according to documents filed in court. The search warrant papers detail a chain of events that happened over the course of that night.

CP workers were set to walk off the job at midnight in a strike and companymanagers were directing crews to park their trains and "tie down" their cargo.

Train 401 was carrying dangerous goods, the conductor told Transport Canada investigators. Sources familiar with the incident tell CBC News that included more than a dozen tanker cars of flammable fueloil.

The conductor and engineer were running out of time before theend of their shift.

The crew was directed to leave 57 carson the main track without handbrakes, the warrant asserts. Sources say it was to allow the crew to move thetankers carrying fuelto a sidingto beparked and secured.

The conductor and engineer, both relatively junior employees, questioned the ordercoming from the radio operator, sources say, but they were overruled.

They were "informed that the direction came from Mark Jackson, then employed assuperintendent, B.C. Interior Division, Canadian Pacific Railway," states the search warrant.

'It was going to be a safe move'

When contacted by CBC News at CP'sofficein Cranbrook, B.C., Jackson said it would be premature tocommentbefore the investigation is complete.

"I can tell you at the time, based on the info that was provided, itwas going to be a safe move. I know myself I've been cleared of any wrongdoing in this," Jackson told CBC News by telephone.

Transport Canada investigators assert that the crew left the railcars without any hand brakes,relying only on secondary airbrakes to prevent the train from rolling.

The train remained in place without incident, and was later picked up and moved.

CBC News was unable to reach the crew toask ifthey left the railcars unattended without handbrakes, and why.

"Any member who doesn't comply with an order from their supervisor,they run the very real risk of a hard disciplinary response,anything up to and including dismissal," saidGreg Edwards, general chairman of the Teamsters Canada Railway Conference, which represents CP engineers.

He saidCP does not allow front-line employees to speak to the media, and the conductor's and engineer's jobs could be on the line if they were to speak to CBC News.

'We take these things very seriously'

Transport Minister Lisa Raittsaid Monday the allegations are serious.

"If it is the case that CP Rail did not adhere to our emergency directive, they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,"Raitt said when asked about the Revelstoke allegations in an interview with CBC's Terry Milewski on Power & Politics.

She said rail company officials should be "very mindful of the fact that it's the president and CEO that was charged in the case of MM&A." That companyand some of its officials are facing charges in connection with the deadly 2013 crash in Lac-Mgantic, Que.

• Lac-Mgantic: Charges laid for brake failure in train disaster

"We take these things very seriously boards, CEOs, whatever you are responsible for railway safety in Canada and you have to abide by the act."

Raitt said if the allegations in Revelstoke "prove to be real and true, I would ask that board to take a hard look at what's going on in their management."

Risks are serious, brake expert warns

CP's own officialpolicies echo an emergency directive issuedin October 2014 byRaitt, which statesthatrailcrews must secure all unattended trains with multiple handbrakesand not rely solely onairbrakes,to avoid "possibly catastrophic consequences."

Freight trains rely onairbrakes powered by the locomotiveto control speed, primarily when a train is in motion. Handbrakes areused to clamp down the wheels to secure parkedtrains and rail cars, given that air brakes alone can fail.

"Any time you leave cars unattended on the main track without air supply, there'salways a possibility any air in the cylinders may leak off," warns Steve Callaghan, a rail brake expert who spent 10 years as an investigator with Canada's Transportation Safety Board.

"On a descending grade, what happens is, as brake cylinder pressure drops,gravity eventually overcomes braking force on the train and things start to move," he says.

CP's rail charts describe theportion of track in question, at theGreely side roadroughly 10 kilometresuphill from Revelstoke, as a "heavy grade"with a slope of 1.2per cent.

Callaghan, a police expertwitnessin the Lac-Mganticcriminalcase, said the problem with a main track runaway is that "the longer the cars keep moving, the higher the speed they attain, the more kinetic energy they've got.

"Basically, bad things can happen if they start to derail."

Revelstoke's mayor and fire chief were surprised and dismayed when CBC News toldthem about the Transport Canada investigation.

"It's unacceptable in this day and age that anyamount of risk is being taken that could cause injury, death, or property damage," said Mayor Mark McKee, acknowledging he doesn't know what occurred that night.

"There's a lot of people that work for CP Rail in this town. They are good people. They are conscientious, they're concerned about safety because their families all live here, sothey're as concerned or more concerned than I am, and I don't think they would find thisacceptable.

"But there should be safeguards and failsafes in there that ensure things like this don'thappen."

Martin Cej, CP's assistant vice-president of public affairs and communications, refused to saywhat, if any, dangerous goods were involved.

"We have co-operated fully with the investigation and will continue to co-operate fully with Transport Canada.As this is an ongoing investigation, we have no further comment," Cejsaid in an email.

Runawayscommon

In Lac-Mgantic, the trainhad airbrakesand somehandbrakesapplied, but those failed to hold when the engine was shut off and air leaked from theairbrakes.

Runaway trains, and cases of runaway "rolling stock," happen on average 35times a year in Canada, CBC News found in a review of records of the Transportation SafetyBoard.

Callaghanpoints tonumerousTSB accident investigations where brakes failed,including a 1998 incident in Mont-Joli, Que.,wherethe brake cylinders in the cars bled off within 15 minutesdue to a leak in the air hose. Thefive-platform articulated container car rolled away, colliding with a passenger train, injuring three of the 341 aboard.

In theRevelstoke case, Callaghan said, "Transport Canada has to thoroughly investigate this."

"One thing they're going to have to make clear," Callaghan added,"not just tothe railway involved, but to all the railways, that there's going to be zero tolerance with regardsto securement policies for trains or cuts of cars transporting dangerous goods.

Send tips on this and other stories tojohn.nicol@cbc.caanddave.seglins@cbc.ca.