Safety board says broken rail behind fiery train derailment near Guernsey

The Transportation Safety Board says a broken rail led to a fiery derailment in Saskatchewan that spilled millions of litres of oil.

On Dec. 9 2019, a C-P Rail train carrying oil from Alberta to Oklahoma went off the rails near Guernsey, Sask. Thirty-three cars derailed of which 20 tank cars had breached igniting a massive fire which burned for nearly 24-hours.

“The investigation determined that the south rail had likely failed under a previous train, causing an undetermined length of rail to break away and separate from the track and expose the rail ends,” said TSB in a report released Thursday.

“The condition of the track components (anchors, ties, and ballast) did not provide adequate resistance to the rail forces initiated by the cold weather at the time of the accident, which contributed to the breaking of the rail. Despite regular track visual inspections and ultrasonic rail flaw detection testing, which exceeded regulatory requirements, the broken rail went undetected before the arrival of the train.”

No one was hurt, but the TSB said the derailment resulted in the release of 1.77 million litres of crude oil.

Following a second oil tanker derailment near Guernsey two months later, Transport Canada issued ministerial orders instructing the rail industry to revise their safety policies.  The rules were subsequently revised and now contain a number of safety improvements related to the operation of key trains and the inspection and maintenance of track infrastructure.

The TSB says since the incident, CP Rail has implemented safety measures including upgraded infrastructure and technology for detecting rail breaks.

-With files from the Canadian Press