Ottawa light-rail derailment shuts down system

Ottawa O Train logo

OTTAWA, Ontario — The Transportation Safety Board is deploying a team of investigators following a incident that saw the derailment of one axle of a train on Ottawa’s light rail Confederation line, shutting down the line on Monday. The CBC reports the incident occurred about 8:30 p.m. Sunday when an out-of-service train was changing tracks […]

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Canadian National, Canadian Pacific set grain records

Canadian National and Canadian Pacific logos

Canadian National and Canadian Pacific have both announced records for Canadian grain movement in the just completed 2020-21 crop year, with CN setting a second consecutive record and CP reaching a new mark for the fourth consecutive year. CN says it moved more than 31 million metric tons of grain, bettering last year’s mark of […]

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Transport Canada approves new switching rules

Transport Canada logo

OTTAWA, Ontario — Transport Canada has approved new rules to address uncontrolled movement of railway equipment during switching. The approved rules, announced July 30, determine when air brakes must be used during switching, to ensure a consistent approach across the rail system; measure to secure stationary equipment during switching operations; and speed restrictions when switching […]

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Washout likely cause of CN derailment in Ontario

Canadian National logo

NAISCOOT, Ontario — Two crew members were reported to have suffered minor injuries when a Canadian National train derailed late Saturday, reportedly after hitting a washout. CBC News reports a CN spokesman said a locomotive and 24 empty intermodal cars derailed on Canadian Pacific’s Parry Sound Subdivision; a Transportation Safety Board of Canada representative told […]

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News photo: VIA stainless steel cars return

Silver and yellow locomotive followed by stainless steel cars

Two refurbished stainless steel business cars trail P42 locomotive No. 905 on VIA Rail Canada’s Ottawa-Quebec City train No. 28, on its way to Montreal’s Central Station on July 22. Absent from the Quebec-Windsor, Ontario corridor for more than a year during the reduced service of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cars are again in use […]

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Transport Canada seeks comment on rail safety culture

Transport Canada logo

OTTAWA, Ontario — Transport Canada has launched an effort seeking public comment on improving the safety culture in the rail industry. The federal agency has developed a Safety Culture Policy Statement defining the term “safety culture,” outlining its role as regulator, and identifying elements that can shape a safety culture, both positively (such as two-way […]

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Transportation Safety Board investigating Calgary fire involving Canadian National train

Transportation Safety Board of Canada logo

CALGARY, Alberta — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating a grass fire that was reportedly ignited by a Canadian National train in Calgary’s Erin Woods neighborhood on Saturday. The Calgary Herald reports the Calgary Fire Department responded to a report of a grass fire along the CN tracks about 1:40 a.m., using some […]

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BNSF restricts flow of containers from LA and Long Beach to Chicago

Container train passing under bridge

  FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway is limiting the flow of international containers from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to its Logistics Park Chicago intermodal terminal for two weeks to work off a backlog of boxes that have built up in the Windy City. “BNSF is metering traffic from the West Coast […]

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Canadian Pacific objects to safety board official’s comments on fire

Canadian Pacific Railway beaver logo

CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific has taken the chairwoman of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada to task for comments regarding the agency’s investigation of the possibility a train caused the fire which devastated the town of Lytton, British Columbia., on June 30. In a Thursday report by the Canadian Press, Kathy Fox, chairwoman of […]

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