'I remember every February 8th': Alberta's worst train crash

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38 years ago today Saturday morning, a CNR freight train ran through a stop signal and collided head-on with a Via. Railway passenger train. The accident only in the east Hinton was killed 23 passengers and crew, another 95 people were injured. It happened the worst railway accident in Alberta history and one the worst in Canada. Many years later, the tragedy still haunts many residents Hinton every February. It also changed the way railways in Canada operated. The Edmonton Journal published this report in 2011 on the 25th anniversary of the disaster.

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'I remember every February 8th': Alberta's worst train crash

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Posted on February 7, 2011
Author: Andrea Sands
Date: HINTON
Source: Edmonton Magazine

Alberta the worst train accident was in the east Hinton 25 years ago this week, an event that changed the lives of people in the community forever.

Accident was killed 23 passengers and crew members from five provinces and 95 others were injured in one of the fatalities. railway Disasters in Canadian History.

It was on the morning of February 8, 1986, when a CN freight train stopped and collided with a Via passenger train 10 miles east of the city.

“Every February 8 I remembersays Gerry Repeka, Hintondirector of accident services at that time.

“When I got inside HintonI usually go to the site.»

Repeka, who now works part-time in Kalahu, has visited the small stone palace that marks the town several times. accident site with a brass plaque that readsFebruary 8, 1986»

Repeka, 70, is also an RCMP auxiliary officer and was one of the first responders that day to receive a call from RCMP Staff Sgt.

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“Once you experience it, you'll remember it for the rest of your life.“, said Repeka, who was photographed by the media while taking a corpse from the ruins. “It is very traumatic.»

Consisting of three locomotives, 114 cars and wagons, the CN freight train was 1,866 meters long and weighed approximately 12,800 tons.

He is hit At a speed of 96 kilometers per hour, 14 units take the Via passenger train on a transcontinental trip from Jasper to Edmonton.

On the car hit together in a three-layer twisted metal mass. Diesel fuel spilled from the locomotives caught fire and some passenger cars were engulfed in flames.

Colin Hanington is in his fourth year of volunteering HintonFire Department when he and another firefighter brought the first truck to the scene.

Hanington remembers being “directed.black smoke” and assumed that a coal truck from a nearby mine was on fire. They rounded a gentle bend and came upon the ruins.

“We could not believe our eyes, what we saw,– he says.

“I think about it more than just this time of year (often).»

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More firefighters joined Hannington to put out the inferno, and Repeka helped assemble buses to transport survivors from the scene.

An ambulance and a helicopter took the injured to the hospital. Repecka checked the names of the sick on the train and worked to identify the train passengers Hinton against the hospital Via passenger list. He worked in horror accident scene for a week.

Then Good memories are amazing too generosity in a crisis response society.

Local pulp mills and the Mount Obed and Gregg River coal mines sent rescue workers and equipment. Doctors and people with first aid training provided assistance. Calls came in from surrounding communities like Jasper, Edson and Grande Cache.

At the Alberta School of Forest Technology, which housed some of the travelers, people left piles of debris near pay phones.

Glenn Taylor, now HintonAkim of the city, a newcomer to the city and working at the pulp mill. The mill's emergency response team immediately came to the rescue.

A sense of purpose and even quiet It grew in the community because people came to help, he says.

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“In those days difficulty you'll really see what your friends and neighbors are made of. … We never want to face each other accident again, it is comforting to know that if it comes to us, we have the ability to respond,– says Taylor.

“Every year our thoughts and prayers go out to the families victims and those left behind. They are not Hintonites or from them Hintonthey will be forever connected Hinton.»

Uniformed firefighters lay wreaths Tuesday accident The site was announced in an email by Fire Chief Peter Ensor during a private ceremony. Three current employees of the department took part in the incident.

The city is marking the 25th anniversary of the tragic day on Sunday with an exhibition of newspaper clippings, photos and DVDs at the city library.

On display is a report by Court of Queen's Bench judge Rene Foisy, who heard during the commission of inquiry, which examined 56 days of public hearings and evidence from 150 parties. accident.

In a survey report published in January 1987, “the culture of railroad workers” is an award loyalty and the performance is complete security“, says the city's website.

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Ask too accused “tired” suggests that the engineer is sick and the brakeman is asleep because the freight train crew runs a red light.

CN and Via officials say the tragedy prompted rail improvements. security.

“For us it was the worst The disaster we've been through“says Catherine Kalutsky, representative of Via.

“As a result, specifically, we've prepared a new emergency response procedure for our onboard personnel, and that remains part of their entry-level training, and it's something that's updated every year.»

CN spokesman Jim Feeney says: “Twenty-five years later, it's a very different railroad than it was then.»

Training and work rules have changed, technology is better, and the culture of railway workers is different security and number of accidents decreasesays Feni.

“This was a tragic incident and our thoughts are with those affected. Many people were deeply affected by it, including people at CN, some of whom still work for the railroad.– he says.

“This is a reminder to everyone at CN security should be the defining focus of our culture.»

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