In a report released by the Transportation Safety Board last week, a derailment and explosion in a CN Rail marshaling yard in Prince George in August 2007 is being blamed on a lack of training among managers and rail cars that were too heavy. The report found that managers operating a remote control switching system when the explosion occurred weren’t properly trained for the duties they were performing.

According to a board investigator, although management employees were considered qualified for their jobs from a regulatory perspective, they were “inadequately trained and had no experience switching long, heavy cuts of cars on this particular piece of track.”

The accident occurred when a CN supervisor lost control of a 53-car remote controlled train, which struck another train pulling cars loaded with gasoline. The crash caused a derailment, explosion and fire.

Essentially, the excessive weight of the 53 cars, and the descending track gradient exceeded the braking capacity of the trains. While no one was hurt, 172,000 litres of gasoline and diesel spilled, most of which burned in the fire.

The company has denied the board’s finding that the employees were inadequately trained, and they claim to have been working diligently since the derailment to improve the safety of its railroad and employees, according to a spokesman.

The board also found that a risk assessment conducted immediately prior to the accident was inadequate to identify the hazards and mitigate the risks of switching long, heavy cuts of car sets on the pull-back track’s descending grade. While the board report made no formal recommendations, it said “the practice of temporarily assigning management employees to do the work of experienced operating employees may increase the risk of accidents.”

This time, it was only gasoline, apparently in the middle of nowhere. But what if the accident had occurred closer to a town, or even at a highway crossing? This is a great example of why training at all levels is an absolute necessity.