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Insufficient hand brakes led to January 2012 CN collision in Alberta
Only a matter of time. I remember when I was a conductor trainee and setting hand brakes on cuts of cars like this. I remember being yelled at for asking the engineer to pull the cut forward a bit to test the hand brakes because it took too long. Seriously!
There weren’t any derails already installed on this siding?
I’ve worked on that line, the area the derailment occured on is just over a 1% grade and that type of coal car is also notorious for having defective handbrakes. Also, the 3rd severely injured crew member only survived because (guess I can’t sugarcoat anything here) he is rather obese and his fat acted like an airbag when the cars hit the engine he was in. The other 2 were in the 3rd locomotive so they were shielded from the impact.