TCRC BLET members die at CN

CN Train Derailment Kills Two, Injures One

LILLOOET, B.C. (CP) - A locomotive hit a curve, flipped on its side, went down a steep bank and caught fire, leaving two CN Rail crew members dead and a third in hospital.

The locomotive and a car jumped the tracks Thursday about 40 kilometres north of Lillooet in a mountainous area of the rugged Fraser Canyon.

RCMP Const. Annie Linteau said Friday police suspect there might have been some sort of mechanical failure on the locomotive.

She said as the engine and flatcar rounded a sharp curve, the car broke away from the engine and rolled over a 300-metre embankment.

"The engine continued on down the tracks and when it rounded another sharp curve it went over on its side off the tracks, went over another very long, steep bank and caught fire," Linteau said.

The injured crew member was in stable condition in hospital.

CN spokesman Jim Feeney wouldn't speculate on the cause of the accident.

"There are many parts and components of the tragic accident that will have to be evaluated and until we have completed some of that work, until we are further down the investigatory road, I don't think it's particularly appropriate and certainly not very productive to look at any one specific component and speculating whether it may or may not have played a role.

Transport Canada appointed an observer to directly report to federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon on the progress of the investigation.

Cannon said in a statement said any safety deficiencies identified by investigators from the Transportation Safety Board or Transport Canada will be addressed immediately.

"In addition, as a standard response to this type of accident, the department will verify that the company continues to comply with all aspects of the Railway Safety Act and the Canada Labour Code," the statement said.

Cannon offered a statement of sympathy to the families whose loved ones were killed and injured in the incident.

"On behalf of the government of Canada, I would first like to convey my condolences to the families of the two CN employees killed in this tragic accident. Our thoughts are also with the injured employee and his family."

The train car was carrying lumber and CN officials said no dangerous commodities were on board.

The derailment stalled rail traffic between Vancouver and Prince George.

Safety along the CN Rail has come under scrutiny in recent years. There were more than 20 train derailments in 2005.

A 43-car CN derailment near Wabamum, west of Edmonton, dumped 700,000 litres of oil into a lake last August.

Two days later, a CN train derailed and spilled sodium hydroxide into the Cheakamus River about 30 kilometres north of Squamish, B.C., doing substantial damage to the river's wildlife.

Figures from the Transportation Safety Board show railway accidents have been climbing steadily for all of Canada's railways.

Last December, CN Rail pleaded guilty to failing to properly keep records of maintenance and inspection work it did on a bridge where a fatal derailment occurred in 2003. Two employees were killed in that accident.

The Lillooet-area accident is also part of what has become an unfolding political and legal saga in British Columbia.

CN Rail and the B.C. government announced a partnership in December 2003 that would see CN take over the freight operations of B.C. Rail, a former Crown corporation, under a renewable 60-year lease.

The 1,600-kilometre B.C. Rail main line runs from North Vancouver to Fort Nelson in northeastern British Columbia.

The B.C. government said it would use the $1 billion from the deal to pay off an estimated $500-million B.C. Rail debt and at least $170 million of the remaining money to spur investment in the province's north.

The deal was controversial for the government on two fronts.

Premier Gordon Campbell was accused of breaking a 2001 election promise not to sell the railway and the B.C. Rail deal became part of a police investigation that led to criminal charges against three former government workers.

Charges of fraud, influence peddling, breach of trust and accepting bribes were laid on Dec. 21, 2004, against relatives Dave Basi and Bob Virk.

The charges stemmed from the Dec. 28, 2003, police raid on the B.C. legislature, where police officers carted boxes of files and computer information from the building.

Basi was ministerial assistant to then Liberal house leader and finance minister Gary Collins while Virk held a similar position under then transportation minister Judith Reid.

Charges of money laundering were laid against Aneal Basi, a former communications officer and Basi relative who worked in the Transportation Ministry.

All three men were fired by the government. A trial is scheduled to start in December in Vancouver.