The Transportation Safety Board suspects a broken rail was the cause of the two fiery train derailments, which spilled roughly 3-million litres of crude oil, near Guernsey.
In an advisory to Transport Canada, the TSB states that the Canadian Pacific Railway maintained the track to its required standard, but it may not be enough to prevent derailments.
The report recommends that Transport Canada should consider revising the rules in regards to track safety, to include enhanced track standards for key routes.
The report goes on to state that while there’s been an increase in the traffic of dangerous goods, the rules for improvements along key routes have not kept pace.
It goes on to recommend that Transport Canada should further review and modify key train speeds, based on various train risk profiles and other factors that influence the severity of a derailment.
Since the derailment in February, the federal government ordered lower speed limits for all trains carrying large amounts of dangerous goods.
