Poor drainage and water-damaged track bed led to 2013 derailment of Canadian Pacific potash cars in Alberta

CALGARY, March 31, 2014 /CNW/ - In its investigation (R13E0069) release today, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) found that limited capacity of the drainage system beside the tracks led to the saturation of the track bed and created a void under the tracks. As the heavily loaded train crossed that section of the tracks, the weakened track structure failed resulting in a derailment.

On 28 April 2013, at 3:55 Central Standard Time, a Canadian Pacific Railway freight train, proceeding westward from Wilkie, Saskatchewan to Hardisty, Alberta, derailed seventeen cars loaded with potash at Mile 80.7 on the Hardisty Subdivision, near Provost, Alberta. Approximately 350 feet of track was destroyed. There were no injuries.

The TSB is an independent agency that investigates marine, pipeline, railway and aviation transportation occurrences. Its sole aim is the advancement of transportation safety. It is not the function of the Board to assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability.

SOURCE: Transportation Safety Board of Canada

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