Train, track were OK: safety board
Operational issues with railway ruled out in fatal bus collision
Transportation Safety Board officials said Friday that they haven’t identified any operational issues with the train or the condition of the track that could have contributed to the fatal collision between an OC Transpo bus and Via Rail passenger train that killed six people.
From information available on the train’s event recorder, or black box, lead collision investigator Rob Johnston said it’s clear the train crew applied the brakes on the locomotive two seconds before impact and that the train was travelling at 47 miles per hour when the collision occurred at the Transitway near Woodroffe Avenue and Fallowfield Road.
“They have close calls at some of these crossings on a regular basis, so the expectation is on the (bus) driver to be able to stop the vehicle, but when they realized that wasn’t going to happen, they took the time to apply the brakes, and there’s a reaction time that goes along with that,” Johnston said.
Given the steps in place to brake a train and the 100 mph speed limit at the crossing, the train seemed to have been operating normally. Yet, because of a municipal bylaw that bans whistle-blowing between 8 p.m. and noon, the train did not blow its whistle at the sight of the whistle-post, generally located one-quarter of a mile away from the crossing on either side.
Before Woodroffe Avenue was widened and the Transitway built next to it, trains routinely whistled to warn drivers they were coming through. Congestion on the narrower street sometimes had cars stopped on the tracks and the whistles were meant to clear the way.
Two things happened to change that. When Woodroffe was widened and congestion was eased, cars no longer stopped on the tracks, and the opening of the Fallowfield Via station meant that trains crossing Woodroffe rolled a lot more slowly because they were either coming to a halt or just getting moving again. The 100 mph speed limit on the train track is an unlikely speed for trains stopping at the station, but one going through could meet the maximum.
In a 2004 report that laid out how the crossing should function once the roadwork was completed, blowing the whistle was described as a “temporary mitigative measure” that wasn’t needed any longer.
“Since the reconstructed crossing will meet the (federal safety requirements) there will be no necessity to continue the routine whistling during daylight hours once the crossing has been reconstructed,” the report said. The safety board has varying opinion on what kind of effect municipal bylaws prohibiting the whistle have on safety.
In some cases, sounding the horn at 96 decibels is effective.
But, there are a number of factors that affect its sound and how others hear it, which means they’re not always the best at warning drivers, Johnston said.
“Today’s cars are pretty soundproof and if you’ve got the stereo on and windows up, or you’re looking at something, listening to the heaters going on, they aren’t always effective at warning people but they do serve a useful purpose in some situations.”
Despite the ban, Johnston is confident the other warning protections in place at the crossing would have activated prior to the sounding of the whistle.
And those automated protections and warnings “functioned as designed and in accordance with regulatory requirements” at the moment of impact, Johnston said.
The level railway crossing itself has the highest level of automated warning devices available for use in the country.
Crossing lights, bells and gates were activated 47 seconds before the bus and train collided, and the gates at the crossing were completely down 25 seconds before the crash.
Though the warnings activated properly, the safety board will investigate how well they can be seen by evaluating the alignment of the crossing and roadway and any potential obstructions.
With train mechanics and track condition essentially ruled out as collision contributors, the safety board now says it will turn its attention to witness statements, a “detailed mechanical examination” of the bus and the one download retrieved from it so far, to try to determine whether bus mechanics or driver condition could be crash contributors.
Information on brakes, air pressure and operation of the engine will come from modules on the bus “that may give some insight into how that bus was operated,” Johnston said.
The tires, now removed after having been documented at the scene of the collision, will be looked at closely later.
Beyond mechanics, investigators will assess how well drivers are trained and will review driver Dave Woodard’s medical history, work schedule and anything else that could have contributed to the deadly crash.
In an interview with CTV Ottawa, Woodard’s widow Terry confirmed that he had “low level pre-diabetes” but said “he was healthy.”
Johnston said there is lots more to discover and it will take time.
“Going forward, we commit to conducting a comprehensive and thorough investigation in order to try and explain what happened and why. Only by doing that can we hope to prevent this type of accident from ever happening again in Canada.”
As the investigation continues and those affected by the collision begin to try to move on, a “cascade of wonderful ideas” for ways to commemorate Wednesday’s tragedy are pouring in to the city, said transit commission chair Coun. Diane Deans. One of those ideas includes a request by Woodard’s family to retire the bus route number, 76.
However, Deans said that Route 76 will remain in operation for now due to the difficulty of retiring a route in OC Transpo’s complex scheduling system.
“We will properly and respectfully commemorate all those who were involved in this tragedy,” said Deans, “but we need to work closely with the families, with OC Transpo, with council, with the transit commission and with the community.”
Deans doesn’t expect any decision to be made over the next few days.
The president of the OC Transpo bus operators’ union, Craig Watson, said the union has distributed black armbands of mourning to the transit agency’s workers and opened a fund for Woodard’s widow and three children.
“We’re contributing to it, it’s for members, other locals are donating,” Watson said.
Via trains began running past Fallowfield station again Friday morning, but there’s a long way to go before the track is fully repaired.
The track was torn up immediately west of the Transitway crossing, as the Via train went off the rails and destroyed two parallel sets of track as it slid to the side.
By Friday morning, one track was repaired enough for the train service to Toronto to resume. But it showed evidence of a job done too quickly.
The tracks come straight as an arrow across country on both sides of the crash, but the repaired stretch shifts unevenly left and right for a few dozen metres, like a bent coat hanger that someone has tried to straighten.
Trains are already slowing to travel through that section.
Crews were still working Friday to repair the second set of tracks that split off from the main track to go through the station.
The smashed red-andwhite barrier at the Transitway crossing has also been replaced.
The scene has changed dramatically since Thursday, as the train cars, including the locomotive, were rolled away in the night, and the damaged bus was hauled off on a tow truck. A second bus that had been in place to block the view from Woodroffe Avenue is gone, too, leaving a clear line of sight along the tracks.
The Transitway near the intersection of Woodroffe and Fallowfield was reopened Friday morning and all routes are running as usual, including Route 76.