Failure of rail fastenings led to GO Transit train derailment near Union Station: Metrolinx CEO

The head of Metrolinx says a failure of rail fastenings is believed to have caused a GO Transit train derailment near Union Station in downtown Toronto earlier in February.

Metrolinx president and CEO Michael Lindsay provided an update on the investigation at the agency’s quarterly board meeting Thursday morning, offering the first public insight into what caused the GO Transit train derailment. The findings were based on a review of videos, operational data, radio transmissions, evidence gathered from the site, and various documentation.

“Imagine rail is fastened to timbers by ties. There were nine ties on one of the rail(s) under repetitive stress and fatigue allowed the rail to move one-and-one-eighth (of an) inch out of alignment, that’s how precise rail has to be,” he told reporters after the board meeting, noting slow orders are in place close to Union Station because of aging infrastructure.

“[The rail movement] caused the rail to roll, which caused the wheels on the locomotive as well as the following coach to come off the rail. Then what happened after that was the train continued to move before the brake was applied. It pulled through the switch that it was about to go through exiting, damaging that switch and damaging the signaling infrastructure.”

Lindsay said the derailment happened “at the worst possible place” in the GO Transit network, calling it a “hinge point” that blocked four platforms at Union Station.

He told board members the number of screws used to fasten the rails wasn’t up to Metrolinx standards for trail tracks (the agency requires four screws at each tie, but there were only two found). He said discussions are ongoing with Toronto Terminals Railway (TTR), the company that operates and maintains the Union Station rail corridor.

“That non-compliance and how it was allowed to persist, given the very numerous inspections that happened of the rail corridor, is something that we’re talking with TTR about right now,” he said, adding a thorough review of the nearby tracks found additional areas that needed work.

“In the one or two places where we have found such non-compliance, fixes were affected immediately, if possible … when we had no GO (train) traffic, or we have changed our operational profile to avoid those tracks until such time as the fix can be affected.

“I can offer again a very confident assurance, both to the board as well as to our riding public, that the [Union Station rail corridor] and the track within it has been inspected and is safe.”

It was just after 8:15 a.m. on Monday when a rear passenger car of a Kitchener-bound GO Transit train derailed. Metrolinx officials previously said the train was moving at low speed when it “experienced an issue that caused the rear of the train to come off the track and make contact with a track switch.” The train was removed from the affected area on Feb. 3.

There were no reports of injuries during the incident.

In addition to disruptions caused by damaged infrastructure near Union Station, GO Transit Lakeshore West and Lakeshore East riders had to deal with unrelated equipment malfunctions on the evening of Feb. 4.

After days of reduced service schedules because of constrained Union Station capacity, it wasn’t until Feb. 7 that full GO Transit train service was restored.

In the aftermath of the derailment, GO Transit riders raised concerns about the lack of communication from Metrolinx staff at Union Station and through other channels.

“That day (Feb. 2), I watched our network operation team. Again because of the manual switches in the Union Station rail corridor, (they) have to train by train dictate how they were going through Union Station safely, where they were going to go — they were rationalizing service because they didn’t have four platforms,” Lindsay told reporters.

“The most important thing for us to focus on that day was moving people safely, which we did.”

On Feb. 2 and the three days that followed, CityNews repeatedly asked for on-camera interviews with a Metrolinx representative to talk about the issues associated with the incident but no one was made available. It wasn’t until Feb. 6 when Lindsay, while appearing at a Line 5 Eglinton plaque unveiling, apologized to GO Transit customers.

CityNews asked Lindsay if the communication rised to the standard it needed to be given the scale of the incident.

“No, no, it didn’t,” he said in response.

“I think that there’s communication about the state of play and the status of our capital projects that is separate and distinct from the information we give to a quarter of a million riders every day … we set the highest standards for ourselves of trying to tell people what’s happening from an operational perspective so that they can depend upon us and we did not rise to that standard on [Feb. 2 and 3].”

GO Transit proactively issuing fare refunds for certain times

Lindsay said Metrolinx staff are in the process of proactively issuing refunds to customers who tapped their Presto cards for train travel on Feb. 2 and 3, as well as the afternoon of Feb. 4, in response to the delays experienced.

Before news of the refund announcement, riders were left to file claims through the GO Transit service guarantee program.

Officials said it will take five to 10 business days for the refunds to happen.

“There is no action required by the customer and the refunds will be issued automatically. The transit agency is also apologizing to GO customers for the significant disruption last week,” an email newsletter sent out Thursday morning said.

To find out which Feb. 4 trips are eligible for refunds, click here.

Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay provided an update to the agency’s board on Thursday. GO Transit trains saw reduced service for several days.  Local 

The head of Metrolinx says a failure of rail fastenings is believed to have caused a GO Transit train derailment near Union Station in downtown Toronto earlier in February.

Metrolinx president and CEO Michael Lindsay provided an update on the investigation at the agency’s quarterly board meeting Thursday morning, offering the first public insight into what caused the GO Transit train derailment. The findings were based on a review of videos, operational data, radio transmissions, evidence gathered from the site, and various documentation.

“Imagine rail is fastened to timbers by ties. There were nine ties on one of the rail(s) under repetitive stress and fatigue allowed the rail to move one-and-one-eighth (of an) inch out of alignment, that’s how precise rail has to be,” he told reporters after the board meeting, noting slow orders are in place close to Union Station because of aging infrastructure.

“[The rail movement] caused the rail to roll, which caused the wheels on the locomotive as well as the following coach to come off the rail. Then what happened after that was the train continued to move before the brake was applied. It pulled through the switch that it was about to go through exiting, damaging that switch and damaging the signaling infrastructure.”

Lindsay said the derailment happened “at the worst possible place” in the GO Transit network, calling it a “hinge point” that blocked four platforms at Union Station.

He told board members the number of screws used to fasten the rails wasn’t up to Metrolinx standards for trail tracks (the agency requires four screws at each tie, but there were only two found). He said discussions are ongoing with Toronto Terminals Railway (TTR), the company that operates and maintains the Union Station rail corridor.

“That non-compliance and how it was allowed to persist, given the very numerous inspections that happened of the rail corridor, is something that we’re talking with TTR about right now,” he said, adding a thorough review of the nearby tracks found additional areas that needed work.

“In the one or two places where we have found such non-compliance, fixes were affected immediately, if possible … when we had no GO (train) traffic, or we have changed our operational profile to avoid those tracks until such time as the fix can be affected.

“I can offer again a very confident assurance, both to the board as well as to our riding public, that the [Union Station rail corridor] and the track within it has been inspected and is safe.”

It was just after 8:15 a.m. on Monday when a rear passenger car of a Kitchener-bound GO Transit train derailed. Metrolinx officials previously said the train was moving at low speed when it “experienced an issue that caused the rear of the train to come off the track and make contact with a track switch.” The train was removed from the affected area on Feb. 3.

There were no reports of injuries during the incident.

In addition to disruptions caused by damaged infrastructure near Union Station, GO Transit Lakeshore West and Lakeshore East riders had to deal with unrelated equipment malfunctions on the evening of Feb. 4.

After days of reduced service schedules because of constrained Union Station capacity, it wasn’t until Feb. 7 that full GO Transit train service was restored.

In the aftermath of the derailment, GO Transit riders raised concerns about the lack of communication from Metrolinx staff at Union Station and through other channels.

“That day (Feb. 2), I watched our network operation team. Again because of the manual switches in the Union Station rail corridor, (they) have to train by train dictate how they were going through Union Station safely, where they were going to go — they were rationalizing service because they didn’t have four platforms,” Lindsay told reporters.

“The most important thing for us to focus on that day was moving people safely, which we did.”

On Feb. 2 and the three days that followed, CityNews repeatedly asked for on-camera interviews with a Metrolinx representative to talk about the issues associated with the incident but no one was made available. It wasn’t until Feb. 6 when Lindsay, while appearing at a Line 5 Eglinton plaque unveiling, apologized to GO Transit customers.

CityNews asked Lindsay if the communication rised to the standard it needed to be given the scale of the incident.

“No, no, it didn’t,” he said in response.

“I think that there’s communication about the state of play and the status of our capital projects that is separate and distinct from the information we give to a quarter of a million riders every day … we set the highest standards for ourselves of trying to tell people what’s happening from an operational perspective so that they can depend upon us and we did not rise to that standard on [Feb. 2 and 3].”

GO Transit proactively issuing fare refunds for certain times

Lindsay said Metrolinx staff are in the process of proactively issuing refunds to customers who tapped their Presto cards for train travel on Feb. 2 and 3, as well as the afternoon of Feb. 4, in response to the delays experienced.

Before news of the refund announcement, riders were left to file claims through the GO Transit service guarantee program.

Officials said it will take five to 10 business days for the refunds to happen.

“There is no action required by the customer and the refunds will be issued automatically. The transit agency is also apologizing to GO customers for the significant disruption last week,” an email newsletter sent out Thursday morning said.

To find out which Feb. 4 trips are eligible for refunds, click here.