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The derailment is seen near Field, B.C., on Monday, Feb. 4, 2019.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Three Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. employees are dead after they lost control of a freight train in the Rocky Mountains and plunged about 200 feet off a bridge into the Kicking Horse River early Monday morning.
Moments before the fatal crash, the crew radioed to the railway’s traffic controllers that their train was out of control on the steep descending grade east of Field, B.C., said an official with Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.
“The train was running away. They couldn’t get it under control,” said Greg Edwards, Teamsters’ general chairman for CP’s engineers. “It left the tracks on the bridge and ended up in the river below the bridge. It is pretty ugly. Before they went in they notified the dispatching centre they were out of control.”
The train, which was en route to Vancouver, had three locomotives and 112 cars. Investigators with the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) are probing the cause of the derailment in which 40 to 60 grain hopper cars were involved, said Eric Collard, a spokesman with the investigator of rail, air, marine and pipeline incidents.
CP TRAIN DERAILED NEAR FIELD, B.C.
Jasper
National Park
BRITISH COLUMBIA
ALBERTA
Banff
National Park
Field
Banff
Calgary
0
75
KM
0
1.5
Lower
Spiral
Tunnel
KM
Kicking Horse River
Trans-Canada
Highway
Site of
derailment
Upper
Spiral
Tunnel
Railway
Mount
Stephen
Field
Steep grades in the West
Elevation in thousands of metres
1,500
Field
1,200
900
Salmon
Arm
600
300
0
Vancouver
Yale
Kamloops
Glacier
Banff
Calgary
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE:
TILEZEN; OSM CONTRIBUTORS; GOOGLE MAPS;
WIRES; TRAINWEB.ORG
CP TRAIN DERAILED NEAR FIELD, B.C.
Jasper
National Park
BRITISH COLUMBIA
ALBERTA
Banff
National Park
Field
Banff
Calgary
0
75
KM
Mount Ogden
0
1.5
KM
Lower
Spiral
Tunnel
Kicking Horse River
Trans-Canada
Highway
Site of
derailment
Railway
Upper
Spiral
Tunnel
Cathedral
Mountain
Mount
Stephen
Field
Steep grades in the West
Elevation in thousands of metres
1,500
Field
1,200
900
Salmon
Arm
600
300
0
Vancouver
Yale
Kamloops
Glacier
Banff
Calgary
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN;
OSM CONTRIBUTORS; GOOGLE MAPS; WIRES; TRAINWEB.ORG
CP TRAIN DERAILED NEAR FIELD, B.C.
Jasper
National Park
BRITISH COLUMBIA
ALBERTA
Banff
National Park
Field
Banff
Calgary
Kamloops
0
75
KM
Kelowna
Mount Ogden
Wapta
Mountain
Kicking Horse Pass
Kicking Horse River
Lower Spiral Tunnel
Wapta Lake
Mount Field
Site of derailment
Trans-Canada
Highway
Walcott Peak
Upper Spiral Tunnel
Railway
Cathedral
Mountain
Mount
Stephen
0
1.5
Field
KM
Steep grades in the West
Elevation in thousands of metres
1,500
1,200
900
600
300
0
Vancouver
Yale
Kamloops
Salmon
Arm
Glacier
Field
Banff
Calgary
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OSM CONTRIBUTORS;
GOOGLE MAPS; WIRES; TRAINWEB.ORG
CP TRAIN DERAILED NEAR FIELD, B.C.
0
75
Jasper
National
Park
B.C.
ALTA.
KM
DETAIL
Vancouver
ALBERTA
93
U.S.
BRITISH
COLUMBIA
Banff
National
Park
Banff
Field
Calgary
Revelstoke
1
Steep grades in the West
Kamloops
Elevation in thousands of metres
Field
1,500
1,200
900
600
300
0
Kelowna
Vancouver
Yale
Kamloops
Salmon
Arm
Glacier
Banff
Calgary
Lower spiral:
880 m long at 1.7% grade
Kicking Horse Pass
Wapta Lake
Mount Ogden
Cathedral Mountain
Site of derailment
Upper spiral:
977 m long at 1.6% grade
Train tracks
N
Field
Mount Field
Yoho National Park
Trans-Canada Highway
0
3
Mount Dennis
KM
MURAT YÜKSELIR AND JOHN SOPINSKI / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP CONTRIBUTORS;
GOOGLE MAPS; WIRES; TRAINWEB.ORG
CP TRAIN DERAILED NEAR FIELD, B.C.
0
75
Jasper
National
Park
B.C.
ALTA.
KM
DETAIL
ALBERTA
Vancouver
93
U.S.
BRITISH
COLUMBIA
Banff
National
Park
Banff
Field
Calgary
Revelstoke
1
Steep grades in the West
Elevation in thousands of metres
Kamloops
Field
1,500
1,200
900
600
300
0
Kelowna
Vancouver
Yale
Kamloops
Salmon
Arm
Glacier
Banff
Calgary
Lower spiral:
880 m long at 1.7% grade
Kicking Horse Pass
Wapta Lake
Mount Ogden
Cathedral Mountain
Site of derailment
Upper spiral:
977 m long at 1.6% grade
Train tracks
N
Field
Yoho National Park
Mount Field
Trans-Canada Highway
0
3
Mount Dennis
KM
MURAT YÜKSELIR AND JOHN SOPINSKI / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP CONTRIBUTORS; GOOGLE MAPS; WIRES; TRAINWEB.ORG
CP did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the train was out of control before the fatal crash.
“It is with great sadness that CP reports that three crew members on board were fatally injured in the incident,” CP said in an e-mail. “Our condolences and prayers go out to their families, friends and colleagues. A full investigation will take place to determine the cause of this incident.” There is no threat to public safety and no dangerous goods were involved, CP said.
“The three-person crew included conductor Dylan Paradis, engineer Andrew Dockrell and trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer,” Keith Creel, CP’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
“This is a tragedy that will have a long-lasting impact on our family of railroaders,” Mr. Creel said.
He said he would not speculate on the cause while the investigation is ongoing.
Marie Armstrong, a friend of Mr. Paradis’s wife, said the Calgary father of two was an “amazing person.”
“He loved his wife and children more than anything, he was hardworking, kind and had a great sense of humour,” she said Monday evening.
In a Facebook post written by Albe Bulmer, he said one of the victims of the crash was his son Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer.
“I am sad to report that I have lost one of the jewels in my crown last night in a tragic accident while he was training to be a conductor for CP rail,” he wrote.
The crash happened between Lake Louise, Alta., and Field, B.C., in a mountainous region known for steep rail grades and challenging conditions. The train plunged off a bridge that lies between the two spiral tunnels built more than a century ago to enable trains to travel through the mountains.
“It’s a devastating accident and everybody is affected by this,” David Fulton, who represents CP’s conductors, said by phone from Calgary.
A CP train derailed in the region on the Alberta-B.C. boundary on Jan. 3. The cause has not been released.
Eight Canadian railway employees have been killed in workplace accidents since Nov. 17, 2017.
“The government and the rail industry will have to recognize that something is wrong and change is needed. Eight workplace fatalities in a little over a year is not something that should be expected or accepted,” said Lyndon Isaak, president of Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.
For the 10-year period ending in 2017, an average of two railway employees died at work each year. Four died in 2017 and three died in 2018, according to the TSB and Teamsters.
With files from Mike Hager, Oscar Beardmore-Gray and The Canadian Press