Blame game stalls double-deckers
CN continues to bar high-capacity trains on Deux Montagnes line due to derailment
Passengers on crowded Deux Montagnes commuter trains should not expect relief in the form of roomier doubledecker cars any time soon.
On Thursday, in the wake of a new federal report on a 2011 locomotive derailment, the Agence métropolitaine de transport and Canadian National remained at loggerheads over who or what was to blame for the accident.
Until those issues are resolved, CN said it will continue to bar the locomotives — required to start pulling double-deckers on Deux Montagne — from its tracks.
In a 30-page report, the Transportation Safety Board found the “heavier passenger locomotive, combined with the existing track conditions, caused the track to widen” at CN-owned Central Station. None of the 1,400 passengers was injured in the accident.
The TSB said all required track inspections had been performed and the locomotive met industry and regulatory norms.
After the accident, CN increased the frequency of visual track inspections at Central Station from once a month to weekly. It also repaired and upgraded tracks. The AMT, meanwhile, altered the locomotives to reduce the force they exert on tracks.
The Bombardier-built locomotive, one of 20 the AMT purchased for $308 million, had been used less than two weeks at the time of the accident, which involved a Mont-St-Hilaire train. It was the first to be put into service. The AMT’s Mont-St-Hilaire line operates on CN tracks, as does Deux Montagnes.
“This independent TSB report clearly says the primary cause was the quality of the tracks and the derailment wouldn’t have happened if the tracks were in a better state,” AMT CEO Nicolas Girard said in an interview.
“For the past 10 years, CN has allowed on its network Amtrak and Via Rail locomotives of comparable weight and that exert comparable force on its tracks. So why won’t they allow AMT locomotives, which were paid for with public funds?”
He noted CN knows the Bombardier locomotives well, having been involved in design and testing phases.
Girard said CN’s refusal is hindering a plan to boost Deux Montagnes, the busiest
Deux Montagnes is the busiest and most overcrowded commuter train line in the region.
and most overcrowded line in the region. It serves the West Island and reaches into Laval and the north shore.
In total, current trains on Deux Montagnes have 900 seats. The AMT has said that at rush hour. they often carry more than 1,800 people. Double-decker cars, now in use on other lines, would significantly increase capacity.
Canadian Pacific allowed the locomotives to be put into service on its tracks in November. They have travelled 20,000 kilometres without incident, Girard said. Four are now in use on Blainville-St-Jérôme, with more to hit the Vaudreuil-Hudson line in the coming weeks. Both lines operate on CP tracks.
Not being able to use the brand-new locomotives has cost the AMT money. It has had to lease several locomotives at a cost of $60,000 to $80,000 per year.
Asked if the AMT will sue CN for costs associated with the derailment, Girard said if CN continues to refuse to budge on the locomotives, “we’ll study all our options.”
CN, for its part, is “rigorously evaluating all the relevant analysis into this complicated technical issue, including the TSB findings,” spokesman Jim Feeny said.
“There are additional targeted improvements to track infrastructure that are going to be required to safely operate that new equipment” on CN tracks, he added.
He said CN wants to work with the AMT to determine what those improvements will be, how much they will cost and who will pay for them.
Asked about the Via Rail and Amtrak locomotives, he said CN “believes that with these specific ones that are being operated by the AMT that more work, more analysis, needs to be done.”
As for the TSB’s conclusions about the state of Central Station tracks, Feeny said, “We’ve been operating passenger commuter trains in and out of that station for many, many years. There was not an issue until this specific incident.”
The AMT locomotives are dual-mode, meaning they switch between diesel and electric.
The AMT has been criticized for opting for dual-modes, which are much more expensive than regular locomotives. They were purchased in part because the AMT planned to gradually electrify its train network, but that idea has met resistance from CN and CP.
Questions have also been raised about the AMT’s plan to use the diesel-carrying locomotives in the Mount Royal tunnel, which lacks modern safety features and escape routes. The AMT has said it will upgrade the tunnel, which is owned by CN.