Manager guilty after train parked illegally on mountain

A manager with Canadian Pacific Railway has been found guilty for his role in illegally parking a freight train carrying dangerous materials on a mountainside above Revelstoke, B.C.

A provincial court judge found Tim McClelland, director of dispatching in Calgary, guilty under the Railway Safety Act of contravening an emergency directive from Transport Canada.

The directive specified the number of handbrakes that must be applied to unattended railway equipment based on the grade of the rail line and the weight of the train.

It came out after the derailment of a freight train at Lac-Megantic, Que., in July 2013 that killed 47 people and destroyed part of the downtown.

Court documents in the Canadian Pacific case say two crew members left 58 cars unattended in February 2015 on the main track east of Revelstoke based on their understanding of directions from managers.

Emergency brakes were applied, but the cars were left without handbrakes or any additional measures to physically secure the train.

Two of the cars were carrying ammonium nitrate, a potentially explosive chemical that’s also harmful to fish.

The grade of the rail line is almost all downhill in the area, noted the court documents.

Canadian Pacific, McClelland and CP superintendent Mark Jackson were charged with two counts of unlawfully contravening the emergency directive.

The company and Jackson were acquitted.

McClelland has not yet been sentenced.