Derailment of 43 Car Train Carrying Potash in Alberta adds to Global Fertiliser Crisis at the same time it Highlights History of CP Rail Safety Issues
Is there a concerted effort to starve the planet?
Something doesn’t feel quite right with the seemingly strange derailment of a 43 car train carrying potash – from which the key potassium component of fertiliser is derived – near Fort Macleod, Alberta on Sunday, the 22nd of May 2022.
Take a look at this video of the aftermath of the derailment:
Whilst I watched the video I was thinking that the location of the derailment appeared to be relatively flat. Then I noticed these comments:
All of the reporting on the derailment of the 43 car CP (Canadian Pacific) train is very matter of fact, without any commentary or apparent investigation by journalists. One such report, can be read at the CBC: 43 CP Rail cars carrying potash derailed near Fort Macleod, Alberta, RCMP say
At the same time, the CTV report shared in the first tweet at the top of this blog states, “The cause of the derailment is under investigation.”
I searched Twitter and online, including RCMP posts and could not find any information regarding an investigation into this major train derailment.
Canadian, Clyde Do Something references some good sources in his video embedded below. This includes the Reuter’s article, Canadian Pacific freight train carrying potash derails in Alberta, no injuries reported which provides context for the significance of the derailment of the invaluable potash cargo.
Canada is the world's biggest producer of potash, a key ingredient for producing nitrogen-containing fertilizers, followed by Russia and Belarus. read more
Potash prices have soared in recent months as Belarus, Russia's ally, became subject to sanctions by Western countries.
Canada depends heavily on its rail system to move commodities and manufactured goods to ports.
The “read more” link above takes one to the following Reuter’s article.
Canada's Nutrien eyes prolonged global fertilizer disruption from invasion of Ukraine
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, March 1 (Reuters) - Canada’s Nutrien Ltd (NTR.TO), the world’s biggest fertilizer producer, said on Tuesday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could result in prolonged disruptions to the global supply of potash and nitrogen crop nutrients.
Interim Chief Executive Ken Seitz said Nutrien will boost potash production if it sees sustained supply problems in Russia and Belarus, the world’s second- and third-largest potash producing countries after Canada.
The United States, European Union and other countries have imposed economic sanctions against Russia, moves that could hinder its exports of natural gas, potash and nitrogen. Belarus, Russia's ally, is already subject to European and U.S. sanctions that have restricted its potash exports.
Russia's war on Ukraine has also raised concerns about wheat, corn and vegetable oil supply problems in the Black Sea region, driving up world prices.
"We could probably see a prolonged, more prolonged disruption in (potash) supply out of that part of the world," Seitz said at a BMO Capital Markets investor conference.
"We're looking very closely at, if this is sustained, how do we deploy miners and open up ground in a very practical, pragmatic way?" he added.
Nutrien expects to sell up to 14.3 million tonnes of potash this year, its most ever, and has said it is considering further expansion.
Brazilian agricultural exports are especially vulnerable to a scarcity of fertilizer, with Russia a key supplier.
Russia's aggression also has jeopardized its nitrogen fertilizer exports. Prices of European natural gas, a key input in nitrogen production, have jumped in the past week, much higher than North American prices.
"We're going to run our plants, run them flat out," Seitz said. "Could we see interruptions in exports out of Russia? Yes. Can we see plant closures? We could."
Please watch Clyde Do Something’s video:
Note these two comments on Clyde’s video:
This is the Timcast article which Clyde referenced regarding the strange trend of fires at food processing plants which seem to have increased in the last year.
“People are beginning to notice because the fires are threatening an already stressed supply chain of food in the U.S.“
The fires began showing up regularly in the news after a fire closed a Tyson Foods meat processing plant in Kansas in 2019. The location was a primary beef processing location for the company and the U.S. supply chain, providing about 6% of U.S. beef.
After the fire, analysts began speculating that the impact could drive up market prices for meat nationwide. Dan Norcini, part of the beef and poultry trading markets, said the cattle market would likely “respond negatively” to news of the fire. He said the long-term impact would depend on how long the plant stays closed.
Then, in August of 2021, the Patak Meat Processing facility burned near Atlanta. The media took notice because the family-owned business is loved in its community locally, and its products are purchased nationwide.
The fire in Georgia barely had a minor impact on the food supply chain nationwide. But, in September, a fire at JBS USA, a meat processing facility in Nebraska, threatened the meat supply for the entire nation profoundly. The plant reportedly processes about 5% of the nation’s beef, and closure would directly impact the supply chain.
The trend has continued repeatedly through the end of 2021 and into 2022.
In February, Shearer’s Food Processing Plant in Hermiston, Oregon, burned down, leaving two employees injured. On April 13, Taylor Farms Food Processing Plant in Salinas, California, burned and prompted evacuations. On April 19, the Headquarters of Azure Standard Food Processing Plant in Dufur, Oregon, also burned.
People are beginning to notice because the fires are threatening an already stressed supply chain of food in the U.S.
The trend continues: on March 16, a massive fire wiped out much of a Walmart fulfilment center in Plainfield, Indiana. The event was severe enough to warrant the ATF to investigate.
Another incident occurred on April 11, at New Hampshire’s East Conway Beef and Pork, when a fire so large broke out that it took respondents 16 hours to extinguish.
At least 16 such disasters have taken place at food processing facilities nationwide. While most of the incidents have shown no foul play after investigation, the trend presents a curious string of events across the country.
It remains to be seen what the direct impact will be. Still, as the nation continues to face soaring food prices and trouble with supply chain operations, there could be a significant impact on the cost and availability of food for Americans.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article stated that a 2019 fire at a Tyson meat processing plant in Kansas occurred “just days” before the 2021 fire at the Patak Meat Processing facility in Atlanta. The article has since been updated to clarify that the two events happened about two years apart.
*For corrections please email corrections@timcast.com*
Update, 5 June 2022:
Clyde’s other source is this very strong piece.
Global food crisis looms as fertilizer supplies dwindle
National Geographic • May 23, 2022
Sanctions on Russia, bad weather, and export cuts have fueled a severe fertilizer shortage that has farmers scrambling to keep the world fed.
Think the global fertilizer shortage is someone else’s problem? Take a look in the mirror. If you are reading this in North America, Europe, Latin America, or Asia, chances are that the bundle of amino acids staring back at you is alive today because of chemical fertilizers.
In fact, according to noted Canadian energy researcher Vaclav Smil, two-fifths of humanity—more than three billion people—are alive because of nitrogen fertilizer, the main ingredient in the Green Revolution that supercharged the agricultural sector in the 1960s. The chemical fertilizer trifecta that tripled global grain production—nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)—enabled the greatest human population growth the planet has ever seen. Now, it is in short supply, and farmers, fertilizer companies, and governments around the globe are scrambling to avert a seemingly inevitable tumble in crop yields.
“I’m not sure it’s possible any more to avoid a food crisis,” says World Farmers’ Organization President Theo de Jager. “The question is how wide and deep it will be. Most importantly, farmers need peace. And peace needs farmers.” […which mirrors the “health for peace and peace for health” mantra repeated by country representatives at the WHO meeting a week ago.]
Cont’d…
In my opinion, there is most certainly something highly suspicious going on with all of the derailments, fires and other interference with food supply chains worldwide.
Remember all of the container ships held waiting for weeks off the coasts of the United States last year?
It’s almost as if they are purposefully creating a perfect storm of food and energy shortages at the same time economies are being demolished.
Is there a concerted effort to starve the planet?
In my search for more information regarding the Fort Macleod derailment, the following very interesting article published on the World Socialist Website was amongst my search results. It outlines some of the incredibly unsafe working conditions and dangerous state of Canadian railways. Of note is that the railways themselves are self-policed by Canadian Pacific (CP) and Canadian National (CN) railways.
Two derailments within five days underscore dangerous conditions on Canada’s railways
Steve Hill
27 May 2022
Are you a rail worker at CP or CN? Contact the CP Workers Rank-and-File Committee at cpworkersrfc@gmail.com to take up the struggle against dangerous working conditions and share your experiences.
* * *
Two train derailments in Canada within the past week have underscored once again the criminal disregard shown by the major rail operators for the safety of workers and the general public.
A 57-year-old man was killed Thursday near the hamlet of Edgeley, Saskatchewan, around 50 kilometres northeast of Regina when the maintenance vehicle he was driving collided with a Canadian National (CN) Rail train, causing a derailment.
The derailment is being investigated by the company’s own CN Police. A CN spokesman stated that 18 rail cars left the track, causing a spillage of an unknown substance. A separate release earlier Thursday from the RCMP indicated that the train may have been carrying fuel.
The deadly accident came just five days after a CP Rail train derailed near Fort Macleod, Alberta. Forty-three cars of the westbound train, heavily loaded with potash fertilzer, were left crumpled like tin cans along a stretch of track just metres from a highway.
Demand for Canadian potash from buyers around world the has risen significantly since the beginning of the year due to the disruption caused by the US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine and far-reaching sanctions on the Russian economy. Canada is the world’s largest source of potash, accounting for nearly 32 percent of production in 2020, followed by Russia at 20 percent.
Police said there were no injuries and no concerns to public safety, in spite of the close proximity to road traffic. As usual, CP Rail merely stated that the cause of the derailment was under investigation, but refused to provide further details.
Derailments in Canada occur so frequently that very few actually make the news. Those that do rarely rate more than a brief mention. Rail cars can weigh 100 tons or more, and they often carry extremely hazardous freight. An accident at any speed carries enormous potential for mayhem.
In the last six months, these are just a selection of the derailments that have occurred:
On December 6, 2021, a CP Rail freight train including residue cars that last contained liquid sulphur, propane and anhydrous ammonia derailed in southeastern Alberta. The freight train derailed about half a kilometre north of Ensign, a hamlet in Vulcan County situated about 80 kilometres south of Calgary. Of the 39 cars that derailed, 14 were residue tank cars—cars containing a residue of previous contents that were empty at the time of the derailment—with eight last containing liquid sulphur, three last containing propane and three last containing anhydrous ammonia.
On December 28, 2021, just south of Craven, Saskatchewan, 26 cars of a CP Rail train carrying potash derailed blocking a local highway.
At least a dozen CP Rail cars carrying corn derailed near Drinkwater, Saskatchewan on March 12, 2022.
On March 20, at least two CN Rail cars containing solid sulphur derailed in North Vancouver, BC. Preliminary information indicated there was a leak contained to CN's property but there were no fires or injuries.
A train carrying intermodal containers in the CP Rail yard in the heart of Winnipeg derailed on May 15. A company spokesperson claimed there were no dangerous goods involved.
On April 29, the residents of Field, BC, were forced to rely on back-up power when a CP Rail freight train derailed four cars in Yoho National Park, taking out the feed to the community.
The community of Field has seen multiple train derailments in recent years. In January 2021, a train carrying grain derailed about 6.5 kilometres west of Field and also temporarily knocked out power to the town. In March 2021, another train derailed in the town.
The regularity of these potentially life-threatening derailments underscores the fact that the railroad operators view them as a normal part of their standard operating procedure, which is known as precision-scheduled railroading. The goal of PSR is to cut costs in all areas to maximize profits for big shareholders.
The most notorious derailment associated with Field was that of CP Rail Train 301 in February 2019, which claimed the lives of conductor Dylan Paradis, engineer Andrew Dockrell and conductor trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer. The train was operating in extreme cold temperatures below −25 Celsius. As a result of the danger posed by a steep stretch of track, CP Rail previously operated a rule that no train should be permitted to descend Field Hill when the temperature dropped below −25 degrees Celsius. This policy was due to the well-known fact that brakes prove less effective in extremely cold weather. CP Rail abandoned this policy after the 2015-16 season, with no explanation provided as to why.
In the relentless pursuit of profits, the crew was ordered to operate in unsafe conditions. The result was tragic.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, a toothless agency which has no regulatory or enforcement powers, released a damning report on the February 2019 Field derailment which the company continues to dispute. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, the corporate lackeys who represent 16,000 rail workers, had little to say except that they were convinced that the recommendations from the TSB report would be implemented.
A 2021 independent audit report for the Auditor General of Canada documented a total of 1,245 rail accidents in Canada in 2019, 694 of them derailments, which is almost two a day. The audit focused on whether Transport Canada implemented selected recommendations from a 2013 audit regarding the department’s oversight of the safe transportation of people and goods on federally regulated tracks. Transport Canada was unable to show whether departmental oversight activities had contributed to improved rail safety. In addition, the department did not assess the effectiveness of the railways’ safety management systems—despite the many reports over the previous 14 years recommending that Transport Canada audit and assess those systems.
It was found that Transport Canada did not measure the overall effectiveness of its rail safety oversight. It failed to identify whether rail safety has improved as a result of its inspections and audits of safety management systems.
It is hardly surprising that Transport Canada is so lax in its oversight duties. The two largest rail operators, CN Rail and CP Rail, each have their own police forces and conduct their own investigations. The conflict of interest is glaring but fully accepted by a political system devoted to the accumulation of private profit.
Together, CN and CP represent more than 95 percent of Canada's annual rail tonne-kilometres, more than 75 percent of the industry's tracks, and three-quarters of overall tonnage carried by the rail sector. The duopoly is almost a law unto itself. With the spike in commodity prices, particularly grain and potash, due to the US-NATO proxy war against Russia, the pressure to move as much freight as quickly as possible is only going to increase.A CP Rail worker recently explained in a letter to the World Socialist Web Site that the undermining of workplace safety and protections for workers has developed over decades. “Canadian Railway labour relations and public safety have been on a rapid descent,” he wrote. “While there was an ongoing struggle in years predating the Federal Deregulation of Railways Act of 1992, once this Act was in place the decline accelerated at a blistering pace. This process was condoned by all levels of government, which are, in the experienced view of long-tenured rail workers, acting in concert with Transport Canada and the Transportation Safety Board. They are collectively complicit in an arms-length do nothing approach.”
The ongoing series of derailments is not merely the responsibility of the rail operators, but also the Teamsters union, which has done everything to suppress rail workers’ struggles for improved workplace safety. In March, the Teamsters refused to act on an overwhelming strike vote at CP Rail, handing the company the initiative to lock out 3,000 engineers, yard workers and conductors. After responding to the lockout by calling a token strike, the Teamsters promptly called it off and sent all outstanding issues in dispute to binding arbitration, a process rigged in favour of the employer that robs workers of any right to vote on their future employment terms.
In response to the Teamsters’ sabotage of the strike, workers at CP Rail formed the CP Workers Rank-and-File Committee to unify rail workers across North America in a joint struggle to put an end to the corporate domination of the railroads, and secure decent-paying jobs and safe working conditions. We strongly encourage all rail workers to contact the committee at cpworkersrfc@gmail.com and participate in this crucial fight.
I searched the internet and Twitter looking to see if there was any further information about CP’s investigation into the potential cause of last week’s 43 car train derailment near Fort Macleod to no avail. As such, I decided to ask the CTV Lethbridge, Alberta reporter whose tweet I shared at the start of this post:
There was crickets from CTV reporter Karsen Marczuk. However, Jenny replied as follows:
Having read the World Socialist report, it was interesting to receive Jenny’s reply with confirmation that when CP checks its own homework there is apparently nothing to see.
Jenny then replied:
I had intended to leave off with the World Socialist’s article regarding the appalling, seemingly complete lack of concern for the health and safety of rail workers until Jenny made me aware of even more shocking details about the one absolutely horrific fatal CP accident in particular which was mentioned above.
At first glance, I didn’t realise that Jenny’s cousin Dylan was the same Dylan referenced in the World Socialist report who was killed in the…
“most notorious derailment associated with Field was that of CP Rail Train 301 in February 2019, which claimed the lives of conductor Dylan Paradis, engineer Andrew Dockrell and conductor trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer. The train was operating in extreme cold temperatures below −25 Celsius. As a result of the danger posed by a steep stretch of track, CP Rail previously operated a rule that no train should be permitted to descend Field Hill when the temperature dropped below −25 degrees Celsius. This policy was due to the well-known fact that brakes prove less effective in extremely cold weather. CP Rail abandoned this policy after the 2015-16 season, with no explanation provided as to why.”
Later that night with a heavy heart, I watched The Fifth Estate’s investigative report regarding the fatal “derailment” of CP Rail Train 301 which Jenny had shared. It was so much more than that.
I am a Canadian who has been living in the UK for 10 years now. Even though I worked in litigation for almost 20 years, I had no idea how seemingly corrupt and negligent CP Rail was, having not worked on any cases which involved the rail industry.
To say I was shocked to learn more about what had happened to CP rail employees Dylan Paradis, Andrew Dockrell and Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer is an understatement of great proportion. The Fifth Estate’s video report was very compelling. I also found it very upsetting. Absolutely heartbreaking.
I cannot even begin to imagine how this tragic accident shattered the families.
I highly recommend watching, Runaway train: Investigating a fatal CP Rail crash - The Fifth Estate
This is the CBC’s report which Jenny shared.
Defendants deny claims of wrongdoing in fatal B.C. train derailment lawsuits
99 grain cars, 2 locomotives plummeted off bridge near Field, B.C., on Feb. 4, 2019
The Canadian Press · Posted: Apr 06, 2022 5:39 PM MT | Last Updated: April 7
Defendants in lawsuits filed by families who lost loved ones in a British Columbia train derailment are denying any wrongdoing in the deaths of three Canadian Pacific Railway employees.
The derailment happened on Feb. 4, 2019, when 99 grain cars and two locomotives plummeted off a bridge near Field, B.C.
Families of two of the men killed filed separate lawsuits in the B.C. Supreme Court last April alleging negligence against CP, its CEO, board of directors, CP police, Transportation Safety Board of Canada officials and the federal minister of transport.
Fatalities included conductor Dylan Paradis, engineer Andrew Dockrell and trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer, all from Calgary, who were in the lead locomotive.
A statement of defence filed on behalf of Canadian Pacific and its senior executives said the actions have "no chance of success" and are "an abuse of this court's process." It said plaintiff claims are unfounded and inflammatory.
CP categorically denies that it is in law, or in fact, responsible for Mr. Paradis's death as alleged in the notice of civil claim or at all," states one of the legal documents filed in May 2021.
"Furthermore, the accusations that anyone at CP acted with intention to compromise railway safety or intended to injure Mr. Paradis, his family, and other CP employees, as alleged throughout the notice of civil claim, are not only false, but without foundation, abusive and incapable of honest belief by the plaintiffs."
The lawsuits — filed by the families of Paradis and Dockrell — allege the workers were not provided a safe work environment and that CP failed to follow safety procedures. They also claim collusion by the rail company's police force and the safety board in probes of the derailment.
None of the allegations have been proven in court. [Of course not yet. This is the CBC’s way of covering their backside.]
A statement of defence filed this January on behalf of TSB defendants also disputes claims made by the plaintiffs. It states TSB officials acted in good faith and without malice while investigating the derailment.
The *RCMP continues its criminal investigation into the derailment.
The lawyer representing members of the CP police service also outright denied the allegations, including claims of coverup or interference, in legal documents filed last May.
"The chiefs deny that following the accident, or generally, any members of the (Canadian Pacific Police Service) assumed, asserted or continued to assume or assert any exclusive jurisdiction to investigate the accident to the exclusion of any independent police agencies," it states.
Findings of the TSB investigation were released last week.
It found old brake cylinders on the parked freight cars were leaking compressed air and gave out in the extreme cold, allowing the train to start rolling uncontrolled down a steep grade. The report also highlighted systemic safety concerns in the rail industry.
Plaintiff Pam Fraser, the mother of Paradis, said taking legal action against multiple organizations and people involved in the investigation is critical to seeking justice.
"This thing has become an octopus and there are tentacles coming out from the Train 301 disaster in many directions and they reach high and they go deep," Fraser said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"There are multiple entities that are responsible for everything that led up to this … attention has to be given to them each."
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs have issued replies to the defendants' defences and claim there are inconsistencies and inadvertent concessions, in addition to gaps in the responses.
I highlighted *RCMP due to their documented history of involvement with questionable investigations which have raised red flags, along with possible false flags. See: Were Coutts, Alberta arrests a false flag?
✦✦✦
Please read this CBC article which was linked in the one above.
CP Rail 'normalized' potentially deadly problems, TSB investigation into fatal derailment finds
Andrew Dockrell, Dylan Paradis and Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer died in 2019 derailment near Field, B.C.
Meghan Grant and Dave Seglins · CBC · Posted: Mar 31, 2022 8:12 AM MT | Last Updated: April 1
Old brakes, extreme cold and an inexperienced trainmaster were all factors that contributed to the fatal CP Rail derailment in the mountains near the B.C.-Alberta border, Canada's transportation 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, reaching speeds of more than 85 km/h.
The TSB's final report comes following a lengthy investigation into the deaths of three Calgary men: conductor Dylan Paradis, engineer Andrew Dockrell, 56, and trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer, 26.
The board found common problems, like failing brakes in cold temperatures, had become "normalized" by CP Rail.
Victim's hazard report found at accident site
Over the years, several CP train crews submitted reports outlining dangerous conditions involving braking issues on Field Hill, according to the TSB.
"Yet year after year, the reports were closed," said said Kathy Fox, TSB Chair. "No risk assessment was conducted and insufficient corrective action was taken."
WATCH | A mother reacts to the TSB findings of the fatal CP Rail train derailment:
"Safety hazard reports involving poor braking unit grain trains descending Field Hill in cold weather had been submitted to CP by train crews for several years."
In fact, just one day before his death, engineer Andrew Dockrell had descended the same hill using maximum braking available. He prepared a safety hazard report about the dangerous stretch of railway.
"The safety hazard report he had prepared about the event was recovered from the accident site, but he never had the opportunity to submit it," said Fox.
Pam Fraser, Paradis's mother, wants to see similar incidents prevented. But she does not believe the TSB's report and recommendations will bring about real change.
"They're all good recommendations," said Fraser. "They look very, very good on paper, and that's where they're going to stay until CP Rail or possibly Transport Canada or our prime minister, in fact, his government, enforces action."
Speaking Thursday in Ottawa, Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra said the government is still going over the report.
"We're going to learn a lot from their report from their full investigation," said Alghabra. "They have recommendations. We're going to look into them and build on what we've done."
The TSB recommendations centre on freight train braking systems and the proposed requirement that CP Rail make improvements in identifying hazards and taking steps to make train operations safer.
CP alleges 'inaccuracies and misrepresentations'
But in a written statement released Thursday afternoon, CP Rail said the TSB had "misrepresented the facts" surrounding the circumstances of the derailment.
The railway says it was the relief crew, not the original crew, which chose not to immediately apply handbrakes.
"Both crews and trainmaster agreed on the appropriate steps to be taken in line with existing procedure," said CP.
CP also denied the failure of Train 301's brakes.
"The train involved in the incident was fully functional, met all industry standards and passed all regulatory brake test inspections," wrote the company.
CP says it will address what it described as "inaccuracies and misrepresentations" directly with the TSB.
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.
The inbound crew was unable to control the speed of Train 301 and made an emergency stop. With the original crew at the end of its shift, a relief crew was brought in.
Train 301, a two-kilometre freight train loaded with grain sat for hours without hand brakes.
Just 10 minutes after the crew transfer, the train — having lost all air pressure — began to move on its own.
What should have been a 52-minute trip down the notoriously dangerous Field Hill took just three minutes as the doomed train reached speeds of more than 85 km/h.
At the historic Spiral Tunnels, 99 grain cars derailed and the train's lead locomotive landed in the Kicking Horse River.
The aftermath of the 2019 train derailment in B.C. that killed three crew members. (Anis Heydari/CBC)
RCMP launch probe into Canadian Pacific runaway train crash that killed 3 crew members
In 2020, Fraser 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).
Fraser wants CP to prioritize safety over profits and for the railway to stop policing itself.
The RCMP investigation into the derailment is ongoing.
2 lawsuits
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. [CBC covering their backside again.]
Please also see this CBC report:
Police officer suspects internal 'coverup' by CP Rail in fatal B.C. mountain crash
Canadian Pacific Railway police investigated its own company after fatal derailment
Dave Seglins, Joseph Loiero · CBC News · Posted: Jan 24, 2020 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: January 25, 2020
A police officer probing the death of three Canadian Pacific Railway crewmen killed in a runaway train crash in B.C. last February alleges he was denied access to key evidence and suspects a "coverup" by the railway.
Mark Tataryn was one of three officers with CP Police Service assigned to investigate the derailment of CP Train 301. CPPS is a fully authorized federal force, bound to uphold Canada's laws, but is employed directly by the company.
Tataryn began investigating potential criminal negligence by CP after the parked train suffered air brake failure in the mountains in –28 C temperatures and crashed at the historic Spiral Tunnels near Field, B.C. on Feb. 4, 2019
"I was ordered to stop investigating," Tataryn told CBC's The Fifth Estate, saying his superiors prevented him from obtaining key witness accounts. "I would say it was some type of coverup."
"I believe it's an injustice. I do believe that there was corporate influence to sway the aspect of the investigation in some capacity," said Tataryn in an interview, though he declined to discuss specific evidence from the case.
Tataryn has since quit CPPS and joined the RCMP. But before he left, he says he shared his concerns — and a copy of CP's police file — with B.C.'s Coroner, Canada's Transportation Safety Board and the RCMP.
The Fifth Estate conducted a seven-month investigation, talking with witnesses, railroad workers, families and sources within police and government and uncovered a string of failures in the Train 301 tragedy, to be explored in a documentary "Runaway Train" airing Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.
Crash recordings withheld
As a CP police officer based in Golden, B.C., Tataryn recalls racing to the derailment scene, finding 99 grain cars piled up and bodies of three crew members from the wrecked locomotive, by then overturned in the Kicking Horse River.
Two other more senior CPPS officers were also part of CP's investigation."We did everything we could at the time under those adverse conditions, –35 C in the howling wind … to get to the bottom of why it took place," Tataryn said.
But Tataryn said that following the crash, he was instructed by supervisors to keep the investigation narrowly focused on the crew.
"I believe that they were looking out for the better interests of the corporation," he said. "I was embarrassed to be a part of this investigation."
Watch the embedded clip of Mr. Tataryn here: Former officer suspects internal 'coverup' by CP Rail in fatal B.C. train crash
It is sadly standard procedure that the defendant’s first response to an action filed against them is to deny any and all claims of negligence, criminal or otherwise in their Statement of Defence.
Having said that, it is extremely upsetting for the family members involved to receive such harsh and heartlessly worded documents, especially in such tragic circumstances.
Lawsuits are incredibly stressful at the best of times, but become that much more heartbreakingly brutal when they arise from the untimely death of loved ones.
I hope and pray that one day CP Rail and anyone else whose potential criminal negligence contributed to the horrifically tragic deaths of Dylan Paradis, Andrew Dockrell and Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer will be held accountable, liable for the irreparable, traumatic loss sustained by their families.
May the families of Dylan, Andrew and Daniel finally have peace one day. 🙏
This all confirms what I already thought... YES, it's deliberate. Because it walks like a duck. But I would guess that somewhere there's a lot of stored food, hidden away, for the Muckities.
Good job once again... I'm interested tho.. "All that's hidden?"
Everything?
Do you believe in God or a Creator or are you atheist/agnostic?