WASHINGTON — Improper handling of train air brakes by the engineer of a Canadian Pacific train was the cause of a three-train accident in St. Paul, Minn., in August 2021, the National Transportation Safety Board has determined.
The accident report, issued Dec. 8, covers an Aug. 25 incident that saw the CP train strike a stopped Union Pacific train, derailing two locomotives on the CP train and one on the UP train. The derailed lead CP locomotive then struck and derailed a car on a BNSF Railway train stopped on an adjacent track [see “NTSB to investigate three-train collision in Minnesota,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 27, 2021]. No injuries were reported. Total damages were estimated at $674,000.
According to the report, CP train 296-23, with four locomotives and 117 caries, was descending a 1.65% grade from a red signal at the Seventh Street control point to a red signal at the Division Street control point, with the engineer using dynamic brakes, which were unsufficient to hold the train. After two air brake applications that proved insufficient to slow the train, the engineer applied emergency braking, but the train passed the red signal at Division street at 19 mph and collided with the other two trains.
The train was not operating under positive train control at the time because of a malfunction aboard the lead locomotive, but was allowed to operate under Federal Railroad Administration rules in effect at the time. Effective Jan. 1, 2023, a train would be prohibited from departing any terminal with a similar malfunction, the report notes.
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