Rail transportation safety recommendation R93-03

Transport Canada (TC) advised that the Department was examining railway policies concerning the handling of continuous welded rail, as well as railway employee knowledge of, and compliance with, these policies. Upon completion of this examination the Board will be advised of conclusions reached and any action taken.

The reply does not elaborate on the examination, time for completion, scope, exact nature, etc. Staff has been unable to find any evidence (at TC or the RAC) that any action is being taken by TC relating to this purported examination. Therefore, the Board assessed the response as "Unsatisfactory".

Transport Canada submitted an additional response to R93-03 and they advised that the new amendments to the RSA - which came into force June 1, 1999, provide for the establishment of regulations for safety management systems for railway operators.

The Regulations will require new railways to submit information on their safety management systems 60 days prior to commencing operations. The intent of this submission is to provide early assurance that the company has developed and implemented a Safety Management System that meets regulatory requirements. The submissions must include evidence of internal monitoring systems and the applicable regulations and rules. Anytime after the submission, the company is subject to TC's audits of their Safety Management Systems. (See further details in Minister's response dated 30 March 2000 to TSB's final recommendations.) TC considers this recommendation closed.

The Board has conducted recent investigations where the issue of controlling the internal stresses of continuous welded rail has been causal or contributory in occurrences. As the deficiencies associated with CWR have not been mitigated and as TC has considered this issue closed the Board maintains the assessment of response to this recommendation as "Unsatisfactory".

Standards and procedures for handling continuous welded rail have been submitted by the railways as part of their Safety Management Systems. In consideration that TC has provided no details on their monitoring activities, the Board reassesses the response to this recommendation as "Satisfactory in Part".

Transport Canada submitted an additional response in 2006 advising that TC recognizes that while railways recently updated the procedures, thermal misalignment remains a concern. The US Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has established a working group to develop new standards for the inspection and maintenance of continuous welded rail. TC has representation on that working group. This recommendation remains open for TC.

Transport Canada is participating in the FRA working group to develop new standards for the inspection and maintenance of CWR. As the working group has commenced, but the outcome is not known, the Board maintains the assessment of response to this recommendation as "Satisfactory in Part".

The FRA working group, which included representation from Transport Canada, has completed CFR213-118 and CFR213-119. TC is reviewing these documents to determine if harmonization is feasible.

CFR213-118 and CFR213-119 are US FRA regulations. As TC's review has commenced but has not been completed the Board maintains the assessment of the response to this recommendation as "Satisfactory in Part".