VICTORIA — Decaying railroad ties and the failure of a safety mechanism to prevent a train derailment are cited in a report by British Columbia's workers' safety agency as factors in a crash that killed three people and injured two others.
The accident in April 2017 happened on the now-abandoned Western Forest Products rail line at Woss, a community of about 200 residents on Vancouver Island.
The WorkSafeBC report says the failure of a device to stop the movement of rail cars resulted in 11 cars loaded with logs running away down the track until it crashed into five members of a work crew.
It says the safety device was intended to derail free-rolling cars, but it was affixed on decaying ties with fewer spikes than required, and when the first rail car passed by, it easily dislodged the device.
The report says Western Forest Products Inc., which was not immediately available for comment, was cited with one violation of the Workers Compensation Act for the failure to ensure the health and safety of its workers.
B.C. Transportation Minister Claire Trevena, who represents the residents of Woss in her North Island riding, says the accident has been devastating for the community.
