February 2024 train crash near Revelstoke
On February 16, 2024, two trains crashed at Greely, just east of Revelstoke. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigated the crash, and released this report on Mar. 31.
Check it out. Here’s my summary of what happened.
At around 10 pm on Feb. 16, 2024, a train loaded with coal was travelling west at 35 km per hour. This train crashed into a stationary car that was loaded with grain at 116.8 Mile near Greely. Four locomotives on the moving coal train derailed as a result, and one caught on fire. Four cars on the stationary train derailed, and one caught on fire. Two crew members on the moving train were taken to the Queen Victoria hospital in Revelstoke, one had serious injuries. No one on the stationary train was injured.
Around 17,500 litres of diesel leaked from the locomotives that went off the tracks, some of it burned. About 400 tonnes of grain spilled from the stationary train.
Earlier in the evening, a radio traffic controller contacted the stationary train, 301, to tell the crew it would have to wait at Greely due to a delay. This communication was at 8:49 pm. Right after, the coal train, 805, called the radio traffic controller.
According to the report: “The crew on train 805 did not hear the conversation between train 301 and the radio traffic controller (RTC), nor the RTC’s conversations with other approaching eastbound trains. The RTC did not mention train 301’s delay to train 805, nor was there a requirement to do so.”
Both trains were on the north track. The stationary train, 301 was waiting to move onto the south track.
An hour later, at 9:53 pm, the radio traffic controller called the conductor on train 805 to give them information about air brakes on some of the cars on the train. There was back and forth to clarify the information, and the call lasted two minutes and 50 seconds. During the call, the locomotive engineer on train 805 was distracted by information he overheard from the radio traffic controller, and was trying to reconcile what he heard with a document on hand.
The train passed a Clear to Stop signal at 9:54 pm. This means the train can proceed but must be prepared to stop at the next signal. The conductor didn’t see the indication. The locomotive engineer did see the indication but he didn’t call it as he didn’t want to interrupt the conductor and radio traffic controller.
The locomotive engineer had been applying pressure to the brakes at this time and the train was travelling around 35 km/hour. When the flashing lights of the stationary train 301 came into view, the locomotive engineer on train 805 made an emergency application of the train brakes at 21:57 pm, 818 feet from train 301.
Train 805 crashed into train 301 at 9:58 pm. The trains came to a stop 155 feet beyond the collision.
The crew on train 301 contacted the radio traffic controller and requested a fire truck and ambulance as soon as possible.
According to the report: “The local fire service, upon receiving details on the rolling stock fires and being told that their assistance would not be necessary to extract anyone from the area, opted not to attend, indicating that they would reassess this decision if needed. The fires eventually burnt themselves out.”
The report says that the radio traffic controller was communicating information to the crew on the moving train at an inopportune time. Radio traffic controllers don’t know exact train locations, and in this case the controller didn’t know it wasn’t a good time for the crew. It was the crew’s responsibility to inform the controller they needed to focus on more pressing matters.
“However, given the perceived authority of RTCs, crews are unlikely to delay such calls, unless imminent danger is apparent. Other factors also contributed to the crew’s reluctance to do so: they were aware that if they do not take an RTC’s call right away, it may be a long time before the RTC is available again, and they were also aware that the RTC was approaching shift change, which is an especially busy time for RTCs.”
meagan@stokefm.com
