Old brakes, extreme cold and inexperience factors in triple fatal train derailment, TSB report finds

Old, untested brakes, extreme cold and an inexperienced trainmaster were all factors which contributed to the fatal CP Rail train derailment in the mountains near the B.C., Alberta border, Canada's safety watchdog has found.

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) released its 23 findings and three new recommendations following its three-year investigation into what caused Train 301 to roll away from its emergency stop atop the Field Hill in February 2019.

More to come

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Three years after a triple fatal CP Rail train derailment in the mountains near the B.C., Alberta border, Canada's safety watchdog is set to release its findings with the victim's family members watching closely.

"I want accountability of anyone involved in the killing of this crew," says Pam Fraser, mother of conductor Dylan Paradis, 33, who was killed in the crash.

The Transportation Safety Board's final report comes following a lengthy investigation into the February 2019 deaths of three Calgary men: Paradis, Engineer Andrew Dockrell, 56, and trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer, 26.

The men were killed aboard Train 301 when 99 grain cars derailed and the train's lead locomotive landed in the Kicking Horse River.

The TSB released a rail safety advisory in 2020 which found numerous problems with Train 301's brakes and brake inspection process.

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The families of the victims hope to get some answers today — answers which they hope could effect change to railway safety and policing policies.

"I need my son's death to make some kind of sense," said Fraser from her home in High River.

"I maybe can better live with all of this if there can be a purpose."

Frigid temperatures, runaway train

In early February of 2019, after days of – 30 windchills and a lengthy power failure at CP's bunkhouse in Field B.C., CP continued to operate its trains through the notoriously dangerous Spiral Tunnels mountain pass.

Train 301, a two-kilometre freight train loaded with grain sat for hours without hand brakes. The braking system lost all air pressure and the train rolled down the mountain on its own, building speed and ultimately derailed on a turn, partially landing in the frigid river.

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In 2020, Pam Fraser, the mother of conductor Dylan Paradis, filed official complaints with RCMP, begging them to look into potential negligence in the crash and obstruction by the railway.

Until then, the only police force to formally investigate the crash was CP's own federally-authorized Canadian Pacific Police Service (CPPS).

The RCMP investigation into the derailment is ongoing.

The Dockrell and Paradis families have filed a lawsuit accusing the TSB of conspiring with CP Rail to block a criminal investigation into the derailment.

The lawsuit, filed in Vancouver, alleged the TSB caved to threats by CP Rail and muzzled its lead investigator in an "elaborate and aggressive" strategy to keep the RCMP from probing the company's role in the crash.

CP has characterized the suit as "misleading" and says the railway "continues to cooperate fully with all investigations."

Those families have also launched a separate suit accusing the company of cutting corners to save money at the expense of workers' safety.

The allegations have not been proven in court.