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Watchlist 2016 (Rail) - Presentation to National Railway Day

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Faye Ackermans
Member, Transportation Safety Board of Canada
1 November 2016
Ottawa, Ontario

[Slide 1: Title page]

[Slide 2] Watchlist 2016

[Slide 3] Issue removed: Railway crossing safety

Year to date (January-September)
Source: TSB website
2011-2015 (avg.) 129                       
2015 117                       
2016 89                       

[Slide 4] Collisions with vehicles by crossing type

  Aug 2013 – July 2014 Aug 2014 – July 2015 Aug 2015 – July 2016
Farm/Private 17 39 26
Public-Passive 59 66 40
Public-Automated 79 76 66
TOTAL 155 181 133

[Slide 5] Collisions with vehicles on public passive crossings

[Slide 6] Action required:

[Slide 7 & 8] On-board locomotive voice and video recorders

Without these, key information to advance railway safety may not always be available for accident investigations and proactive safety management.

Recent actions:

[Slide 9] Issues:

Action required:

[Slide 10 & 11] Following signal indications

Railways signals are not consistently recognized and followed, which poses the risk of serious collisions or derailments.

Any progress?

Action required:

[Slide 12 & 13] Transportation of flammable liquids

The transportation of flammable liquids, such as crude oil, by rail across North America, has created an elevated risk that needs to be mitigated effectively.

Progress so far:

Action required:

[Slide 14] New issue: Sleep-related fatigue in operating crew can impair the safe operation of freight trains

Why this matters:

Action required:

[Slide 15] Multi-modal issue: SMS and oversight

Action required:

[Slide 16] New issue: Transport Canada action to address TSB recommendations is too slow

Why this matters:

Mode 10–14 years 15–19 years More than 20 years Total
Air 3 4 32 39
Rail 1 1 1 3
Marine 3 1 6 10
Total 7 6 39 52

Action required:

[Slide 17] Next steps:

[Slide 18] Questions?

[Slide 19] Canada watermark