TSB: Crossing incident raises concerns about Ontario railway safety oversight

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) last week issued a safety concern following the release of its investigation report into a Nov. 13, 2019, grade crossing accident in Kitchener, Ontario, in which a Metrolinx GO Transit commuter train struck two people.

As a result of the investigation, "the board is concerned that the province of Ontario does not provide effective safety oversight of provincially regulated railways," TSB officials said in a press release.

The commuter train was traveling west on the Metrolinx Guelph Subdivision when it struck one adult and one child at the Lancaster Street crossing. Both victims were seriously injured, TSB officials said.

The investigation found that four people — two adults and two children — of a group of 11 pedestrians at the crossing were unable to see the approaching train despite being aware of activated warning devices. A CN freight train had traversed the crossing just ahead of the commuter train, leading the pedestrians to believe the warning devices were activated solely for the freight train, TSB officials said.

Although the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) is responsible for the safety oversight of provincially regulated railways such as Metrolinx, it has no overall provincial regulatory framework in place and relies on inspection agreements with Transport Canada (TC) and Metrolinx to aid in complying with federal rules and regulations, TSB officials said. The MTO also does not have employees with technical railway knowledge, experience or expertise, they added.

"While the MTO can outsource inspections to TC, it cannot outsource the responsibility for the safety of rail operations," TSB officials said. "Meaning, while TC inspectors can identify safety hazards and aid Metrolinx in mitigating the risks, they do not have the authority to compel them to take remedial action."

CN, Metrolinx, the Region of Waterloo and the MTO were not aware of the observed hazards at the crossing, TSB officials said.

"Given the complexity of multiple separate agreements with different parties, this accident demonstrates that there are gaps in the province of Ontario’s regulatory surveillance of its provincially regulated railways," they said.

Since the accident occurred, Metrolinx has made some safety improvements at the crossing.