Feds get scolding on crash response
Actions ‘don’t go far enough’
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board is applauding the city for its response to recommendations arising from the investigation into the 2013 collision between an OC Transpo bus and Via Rail passenger train, but it had some stinging words for Transport Canada.
“There are a few good initiatives proposed by the regulator to address some of the safety deficiencies we identified in our investigation. But I’m concerned these efforts don’t go far enough, fast enough,” TSB chair Kathy Fox said Tuesday in a statement.
“To advance railway crossing and passenger safety even further, Transport Canada’s research, review and consultation must lead to concrete action in a timely manner.”
Last December, the TSB issued its final report on the crash, which killed six people. The report made five key recommendations aimed at reducing the risk of railway crossing accidents.
The TSB called on Transport Canada to develop and implement crashworthiness standards for commercial passenger buses to reduce the risk of injury. The department has said it will look at accident data from other cities to evaluate existing crashworthiness, but it has no explicit plans to develop or implement such standards, nor is there a timeline for the review and analysis.
That is less satisfactory to the TSB, as is Transport Canada’s seemingly vague plans for studying whether commercial passenger vehicles should be required to have crashworthy event-data recorders.
The TSB says it’s “encouraged” by the government’s response but notes no specific outcome or timeline has been provided here either, nor are there explicit plans for the development of EDR standards for commercial passenger buses.
The TSB, however, is satisfied with the response to three of its recommendations.
Transport Canada, in consultation with the provinces and an industry working group, is developing guidelines for the installation and use of in-vehicle monitor displays to reduce the risk of driver distraction. The federal department will also work with provinces and railways to develop rules for when grade separations — overpasses or underpasses — at railway crossings should be considered.
The TSB called on the city to reconsider the need for grade separations at the Woodroffe Avenue, Transitway and Fallowfield Road level crossings. The city and Via Rail are conducting a feasibility study to review the technical requirements for providing grade separation at those crossings, and at two additional crossings.
This is a positive first step towards managing the risk of vehicletrain collisions at these five level crossings, the TSB says.
“The city ’s residents deserve the safest crossings,” Fox said in the statement.
Work on the level crossing feasibility studies has begun and is expected to be available for committee and council consideration early next year.
There are a few good initiatives proposed by the regulator. … But I’m concerned these efforts don’t go far enough, fast enough. KATHY FOX, TSB chair