crs1026
Superstar
That certainly appears to be the case. What I find curious (I'm being diplomatic) is that the tenders implied that road crossing safety was being addressed. Host's Railway Age article states: "new crossing protection (conforming to Transport Canada regulations)". He may also have been misled, his pieces I've read have always been based on reference, so there appears to be either 'sleight of hand' in the releases, or something on TC's part not being divulged.
I would read that a little less specifically. If you buy a new car today, it will 'conform to federal regulations'. That doesn't mean it will go faster and further than your old car. It may still be a beater, but one with the required airbags and seatbelts.
I don't know how often it's happened, but the Silver Creek Parkway (presently closed at the crossing until the underpass is built) now hosts both signals and the control shack *dead centre* over top of the road alignment.
There's definitely a statement here about how fast things changed (ie how little true planning and strategy there was) and how little collaboration there was between VIA and GO. The design was a bandaid to TC concerns about running passenger trains over old, 'dark' rail. GO and the Province were not looking to chip in on improvements. GEXR did not need CTC for its freight operations. VIA had no mandate to make improvements.
Further reading reveals this, something the press never did to the best of my knowledge. One wonders if CTC would have revealed this event, let alone prevent it:...
I won't speculate on this particular event, but.... while CTC does add layers of accident prevention over what was in place on GEXR at the time, it is not foolproof against wilful disregard of the rules nor against 'honest' human error. I do know that in this instance both train crews were eventually fired and the termination was upheld in arbitration. (The VIA termination award is on line in the CROA database, but I'm too lazy to go looking for the link). Higher order signalling eg PTC will add further safety assurance.
Certainly, the railroads are not about to fess up publicly to stuff. I am aware of one event involving a fully loaded GO train that was newsworthy. GO announced the event and resulting delay on their website simply as a 'switch malfunction'. I only found out because I was on the following train, which had to be bustituted. Being curious, I asked someone who knew the inside story. The public's 'right to know' is limited to what must be reported to TC, and what they then choose to investigate and report publicly.
- Paul