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CN Rail Enters Guilty Plea In Connection With Fatal Derailment

By 250 News

Lawyers appeared briefly in B.C. Supreme Court in Prince George today

It was a hasty conclusion to a trial scheduled to last more than two months in B.C. Supreme Court in Prince George...

Canadian National Railway entered a guilty plea to one of three counts in connection with a fatal train derailment that occurred near McBride in May of 2003.

Two Prince George men,  Conductor Ken LeQuesne and Engineer Art McKay, both 51, were killed when the train left a wooden trestle bridge and plunged into a ravine.

Canadian National Railway Spokesperson, Jim Feeney, says, "Yes, we pleaded guilty to a count under the Railway Safety Act for failing to ensure proper documentation and procedures in respect to railway work, inspection and maintenance on that bridge."  The company has received a fine of $75,000.00 on a count that carried a maximun $200,000.00 penalty.

Feeney says the Crown and Transportation Safety Board agreed to drop the two charges laid under the Canada Labour Code relating to the safety of the bridge after independent experts, commissioned by CN, tested and analyzed the condition of the bridge at the time of the derailment and found the accident did not occur as a result of structural failure of the bridge.

He says, "There were those that believed that the bridge failed under load, that it collapsed under the weight of the train, these independent studies conclusively prove that wasn't the case."  Feeney says a broken rail has been indicated as the cause, which is "an unforeseen and unpredictable accident."

The CN spokesperson says today has been a very difficult day for the families of the employees killed in the tragic accident and for a lot of employees at the company, but says, "I think the thing that came out of today is that we all have a much better understanding of what actually happened."

Since the accident, Feeney says CN has moved to improve documentation procedures and is continuing to improve inspection and maintenance procedures.  "We're doing everything we can to prevent this type of occurrence."


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