Slightly over half of the 100 mile (160 km) stretch of track between Jasper and Edson was double-tracked, including 11.2 miles (18 km) of trackage from Hargwen siding west to Dalehurst siding. Had the Super Continental been even a minute early, it would have been past the switch at this point, but it was not. It was the most lethal Canadian rail disaster since the Dugald accident of 1947. Wikipedia also ha information with respect to the crash. Rosendahl's office told CBC News on Friday the MLA would be unavailable for comment, because he underwent surgery three days ago. 413 left Edson at 6:40 am, and took the siding at Medicine Lodge to allow two eastbound trains to pass. The Hinton train crash occurred near this location at 8:40 a.m. on February 8, 1986. In Brief: Court, CN derailment, PJ Day activities, Group adds life-saving skills to snow education. 4 train - the combined Super Continental and Skeena - stopped at Hinton. | Photo courtesy of the Hinton Coal Branch Archives Hinton Train Crash Collection (Hinton General Hospital). My Dutch Cargo Bike Stolen & Recovered in Less Than 10 Minutes, 2. As the conductor is in charge of the train, had Smith felt that the train was out of control or there were serious problems, he should have pulled the brake cord in the caboose to stop the train. Traffic on this line was controlled with Centralized Traffic Control (CTC). The disaster was featured in "Head-on Collision", a Season 3 (2005) Crash Scene Investigation episode of the Canadian TV series Mayday[11] For broadcasters that do not use the series name Mayday, this is one of three Season 3 episodes labelled as Crash Scene Investigation spin-offs, examining marine or rail disasters. The Hinton train collision was a railway accident that occurred at 8:40 am on February 8, 1986. In an occupation where it needs total focus, the company should have scheduled their shifts in a way that everyone got enough rest. Baggage -Dormitory 617. With the train traveling much faster than the maximum speed allowed, Smith should have known to stop the train. You didnt know what was going on, but theres always hope that it wasnt as bad as you thought and everybody would survive, but she said trailing off. The two sleepers following the dome car derailed and were thrown on their sides. In any event, on the failure to receive communication from the head end, regulations required him to activate the emergency brake. A more advanced safety device was available, the Reset Safety Control (RSC), required crew members to take an action such as pushing a button at regular intervals, or else automatic braking would occur, but neither lead locomotive was equipped with this safety feature. Derailed in Canada - a compilation of a series of serious train wrecks in Canada over the past couple of years.. MCH 259 COUNTING TRAIN CARS HOW MANY DO YOU SEE. In the caboose was conductor Wayne "Smitty" Smith, aged 33. See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinton_train_collision, Image from the accident: http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/alberta/2011/02/07/17184331.html. A plaque was unveiled in the town on Monday to remember the 23 people who died in 1986 when a freight train and a VIA passenger train collided near Hinton. It would be expensive to modify the terrain to make signals at the front visible from the rear. With the train traveling much faster than the maximum speed allowed, Smith should have known to stop the train. The report also noted that although the front-end and rear-end crews should have been in regular communication, that did not appear to be the case in this accident. The front cars and freight wagons derailed. Tests on the crews' remains ruled out drugs or alcohol as a cause, though it was revealed that the engineer of the freight train, Jack Hudson, was an alcoholic and heavy smoker who suffered from pancreatitis and type 2 diabetes, thus placing him at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Far Eastern The Hinton train collision was a railway accident that occurred at 8:40 am on February 8, 1986. It was devastating, recalled Shevalier. Tall wagons would also degrade visibility, even from the cupola of a caboose. In the caboose was conductor Wayne "Smitty" Smith, aged 33.c. 4, some 11 miles east of Hinton, Alberta. [3] The freight train left Edson at 6:40 am, and took the siding at Medicine Lodge to allow two eastbound trains to pass. In the front locomotive were engineer John Edward (Jack) Hudson, aged 48, and brakeman Mark Edwards, aged 25. The Commission also concludes that there are serious deficiencies in the manner in which CN monitored and reacted to that condition. Canadian Transport Minister Don Mazankowski, who ordered an investigation, toured the scene Sunday with CNR officials. Only the inoperable Via Rail unit, FP9ARM 6300, was repaired after the collision. Highway Patrol said the driver, Wayne Keith Smith, Jr., 38, of Campobello, was fleeing from Polk County deputies when the vehicle ran off the left side of the road and struck a tree. 1677 - Canadian National Railways and United Transportation Union", "RailPictures.Net Photo: Via 6300 Via Rail EMD FP9u at Montreal, Quebec, Canada by pierre fournier", "Canadian Railway Observations - Canadian Railway History", "Heber Valley RR Equipment from British Columbia", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hinton_train_collision&oldid=1138026339, Railway accidents involving a signal passed at danger, Accidents and incidents involving Canadian National Railway, Accidents and incidents involving Via Rail, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Possible: locomotive engineer/brakeman fatigue, or heart attack or stroke, This page was last edited on 7 February 2023, at 16:51. [5], Canadian National Railway's westbound train No. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot loses re-election bid, concedes defeat, Nordic stars bring sex, terrorism, murder to U.S. streaming, Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared winner of Nigeria's presidential election, 36 killed, 85 injured in Greece train crash, U.S. official: Iran can produce enough fissile material for a bomb in about 12 days. The three passenger cars at the rear of the train did not derail, but there were some injuries. They interviewed a survivor who desperately wanted to save a little boy who was burning alive, but he couldnt get to him through the flames, so he had to watch the poor kid die. For her part, Shevalier said she wasn't exactly waiting for an apology from Rosendahl. One of its occupants was killed. More will be coming up soon so stay tuned. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Hinton Rail Crash - 1986 - Hinton, Alberta - Railway Disaster Sites on Waymarking.com. A September 1947 collision of two passenger trains in Manitoba killed 31 people. Management and union practice was to place more comfortable locomotives at the front of trains, even at the expense of safety. The suspicion was that Smith had neglected his duties by sitting at the more comfortable desk seat instead of in the cupola of the caboose, where he should have been and where he would have a clear view of the track and the signals. At the same time VIA Rail's No. ", FP9A Diesel locomotive number 6300 (inoperative). It departed Medicine Lodge at 8:02 am and reached Hargwen at 8:20 am, On the caboose, conductor Wayne "Smitty" Smith, aged 33. 4 was traveling eastbound from Jasper to Edmonton on its transcontinental journey. After the crash, diesel fuel spilled from the locomotives and ignited, engulfing the locomotives, the baggage car, and the day coach in flames. A total of Twenty-three people were killed in the collision, this collision involved a Canadian National Railway freight train and a Via Rail passenger train called The "Super Continental". Twenty-three people were killed and 95 others sustained injuries in a collision between a Canadian National (CN) Railway freight train and a VIA Rail Canada passenger train. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6. On the morning of February 8, 1986, Via Rail 's No. So, I was able to take my 14-year-old daughter up there, who has never had the pleasure of meeting her grandfather. As the freight train reached Hargwen, Hudson radioed back to Smith that the signals were green, a communication that was heard by a following freight. 0:59. Management claimed to be unaware of this practice, even though it was quite common. The train, which combined Super Continental and Skeena, consisted of 14 units in the following order:[3]. A plaque was unveiled in the town on Monday to remember the 23 people who died in 1986 when a freight train and a VIA passenger train collided near Hinton. A CN freight train travelling at 96 km/h at the time of impact, ran head-on with a VIA Rail passenger train, leaving 23 dead and 95 people injured. The episode is entitled "Head-On Collision". Management and union practice was to place more comfortable locomotives at the front of trains, even at the expense of safety. The suspicion was that Smith had neglected his duties by sitting at the more comfortable desk seat instead of in the cupola of the caboose, where he should have been and where he would have a clear view of the track and the signals. "If we had a nickel for every apology from a politician that our family received at the time of the accident," she said, "we'd be a rich family.". Traffic on this line was controlled with Centralized Traffic Control (CTC). No evidence could be found to explain why the freight train failed to stop at the absolute signal at the Dalehurst control point. 'There are 29 people missing as of this moment,' Pounder said, adding the victims were presumed dead. No conclusive reason could be found for the failure of the passenger train crew to react, neither was there any evidence that the Super Continental crew had made any errors before the accident. Instead of condemning any one individual, it instead condemned what Foisy described as a "railroader culture" that prized loyalty and productivity at the expense of safety. A commission of inquiry into the accident . CNR crews worked through the night in sub-zero conditions to lay new tracks to detour trains around the site. The inquiry report was published on January 22, 1987. While the second locomotive in the freight train was equipped with RSC, it was not assigned as the lead locomotive because it lacked a comfort cab. Had the sulphur cars, for instance, been at the front of the train, the death toll might have been higher. Both lead locomotives were destroyed, killing their crews. At the time there was a single track in this location that resulted in two trains travelling in the opposite direction being on a collision course. It was the deadliest rail disaster in Canada since the Dugald accident of 1947 . Even if Smith's testimony was true, he apparently did not consider the problem sufficiently serious to stop the train, a second misjudgment. It was the most lethal Canadian rail disaster since the Dugald accident of 1947, and would not be surpassed until the Lac-Mgantic rail disaster in 2013 which killed forty-seven people. The Hinton train collision was a rail transport accident that occurred in Canada on 8 February 1986. No evidence could be found to explain why the freight train failed to the. 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