News release

Today, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released its investigation report (R22V0238) into a collision between a Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CP) freight train and an unoccupied stationary hi-rail vehicle.

On December 29, 2022, a CP track supervisor was inspecting the north and south main tracks on the Shuswap Subdivision in a hi-rail vehicle when he noticed a defect that required a repair. While the supervisor was repairing the track, an eastbound freight train was given authorization to travel through this location and collided with the unoccupied hi-rail vehicle. There were no injuries.

The investigation determined that the supervisor had an electronic track occupancy permit (TOP) for the north main track to allow him to conduct his inspection. When he noticed the defect, he requested a second electronic TOP for the south track. Shortly after, the supervisor, realizing he had not cancelled the permit for the north track, accessed CP’s employee application and inadvertently cancelled the permit for the south track instead. Because there was no multi-layer verification procedure in CP’s application, the track supervisor was able to inadvertently select, verify, and cancel the wrong permit, leaving the track that he was working on unprotected.

In April 2023, the TSB sent Rail Safety Advisory Letter 04/23 to CP indicating that the verification procedures for cancelling electronic TOPs were less rigorous than those for cancelling over radio. The letter advised CP that it may wish to consider the need for more stringent verification procedures in these cases. In its response, CP indicated that it had implemented several safety actions, including enhancing the electronic application.

See the investigation page for more information.