REGINA — The Transportation Safety Board says a runaway rail car that rolled through Regina last March had been left unattended with inadequate braking.
The tanker covered more than four kilometres — crossing a number of streets at a speed that reached 30 km/h — before it came to rest in a Regina neighbourhood.
The car was loaded with asphalt and was being handled by a crew from Cando Rail Services at the city’s Co-op refinery when it rolled off.
The safety board says the crew left the tanker unattended and secured only by emergency air brakes, which slowly lost pressure until they released.
The board says hand brakes had not been applied nor had the crew performed tests to see how effective they would be.
There was no emergency radio broadcast when the tank car rolled away and crew were unable to catch the runaway unit with a locomotive.
No one was injured and no dangerous material was involved.
More than 40 people died in an explosion and fire when a 74-car runaway train carrying crude oil rolled down a grade and derailed in downtown Lac-Megantic, Que., in July 2013.
The Canadian Press
