NTSB faults Canadian railroad, FRA for 2002 deadly derailment
A U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigation found the Canadian Pacific Railway’s inadequate track inspection and maintenance program as the cause of a deadly train derailment on Jan. 18, 2002.
The accident occurred a half-mile west of Minot, N.D. Five tank cars carrying anhydrous ammonia, a poisonous gas, ruptured and released a vapor plume that killed one person and sickened more than 300 others.
The NTSB’s investigation of the accident faulted the Canadian railway for discontinuing ultrasonic testing of joint bars before the accident. The ultrasonic testing is a procedure that the agency believes would have identified cracks in the line.
The NTSB also faulted the Federal Railroad Administration for not requiring adequate inspections and testing of joint bars in continuous welded rail and recommended “on-the-ground inspections and nondestructive testing” in the future.
In addition, the agency said the five ruptured tank cars were made before 1989 with “non-normalized” steel. In low temperature, steel becomes brittle and easily fractures. “Normalizing” is a heat treatment process that lowers the temperature at which steel will become brittle, the agency said.
All tank cars built after 1989 are required to use normalized steel.