A GO train carrying 120 passengers was within seconds of derailing near Oakville earlier this year, according to an internal Metrolinx report...which [it] says was the fourth time a GO train sped past a stop signal over the previous 12 months.
[...]
"...a westbound GO train...blew through a stop signal and crossed over to a different track at about 112 km/h when it should have only been travelling at about 24 km/h..."
[...]
According to the Metrolinx report, an internal investigation would be completed within 60 to 75 days of the incident. But no report has so far been made public and there is no indication from the provincial transit agency that it will be.
Alstom did not respond to the Star’s request for comment before deadline. [...]
“The incident is being reviewed under established rail safety protocols,” said Dakota Brasier, a spokesperson for the Ontario minister of transportation. [...]
Nic Defalco, a spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency in charge of investigating safety incidents on Canada’s railway network, told the Star it is not currently investigating the Jan. 5 incident.
In a statement to the Star, Metrolinx spokesperson Lyndsay Miller said that the two Alstom operators of the train have been dismissed.
“While taking GO Transit continues to be one of the safest ways to travel, this incident provides an important opportunity to reinforce safety compliance across our rail network,” Miller said.
Ian Naish, former director of rail investigations at the TSB, said it was “extremely surprising” the train didn’t actually derail.
Had the train driver braked 1.5 seconds later, as laid out in the report, “it had the potential to have been one of the worst recorded Metrolinx accidents in its 16-year history,” Naish said. “A high-speed derailment would likely have resulted in multiple passenger injuries and, possibly, some fatalities.”
[...]
Since 2001, the TSB has called for fail-safes that guard against speeding and the subsequent derailments that often occur, but it has not been nationally mandated.
GO Transit currently doesn’t have the safety systems that have become widespread in modern railway systems.
In 2024, Metrolinx announced it would roll out a European-standard signalling system that would include train protection as part of its GO expansion plans. The transit agency has not provided a timeline for when the new signalling system would be implemented.
“The level of protection that GO Transit operates with is essentially the same as Britain’s operating system in the 1940s,” Dennis said.
Meanwhile, the Ontario government and Metrolinx have run increased service on several of the GO network’s busiest routes, including the Lakeshore West and East lines, the Barrie line and the Stouffville line.
“If you’re going to see an increasing level of service on GO transit — as is happening right now — and not seeing a commensurate increase in the level of protection … is that acceptable?” Dennis said. “I would postulate that it isn’t.”
[...]
Neither the January GO incident, nor February’s derailment at Union Station will be subject to an independent investigation, because the TSB has no jurisdiction to investigate safety incidents on provincially owned railways, which is the case for the majority of the GO network.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
The agency said it only investigates incidents on provincial railways at the request of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. It also confirmed that there is only one active GO investigation: a signal passed at danger in 2024 that nearly resulted in a collision outside of Aldershot GO Station.
Instead, Metrolinx will conduct its own investigation, with no guarantee the results will be made public as there is no requirement to do so. No public reports on signals passed at danger in the past year have been published.
The TSB has, in the past, called for more regulatory oversight of the GO network, either by the Ministry of Transportation or another government body, as part of a 2023 TSB report on a 2019 incident on Lancaster Street in Kitchener where an adult and child were struck by a GO train.
“Given the current complex (Ontario Ministry of Transportation) regulatory framework that involves multiple agreements, there are gaps in the oversight processes that can lead to occasions when the (Ontario Ministry of Transportation) will not be able to provide effective safety oversight,” the TSB wrote in its report. “The Board is concerned that the Province of Ontario does not provide effective safety oversight of provincially regulated railways.”
More transparency can help spur better regulations and safety technology said Naish, the former TSB director. But as it stands, Metrolinx and the GO network have no independent oversight aside from the provincial government.
“There’s just so much we don’t know … There’s no accountability,” Naish added. “I know it causes bureaucracy and it costs money, but you need to be accountable.”
