GATINEAU, Quebec — A notable increase in completed investigations is highlighted in the Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s annual report for fiscal 2022-23, delivered to Parliament this week.
Announcement of the annual report comes a day after the TSB released its annual statistics on accidents and other incidents in all modes of transportation [see “Rail accidents increased in Canada …,” Trains News Wire, June 22, 2023].
The year’s activity saw the board complete 59 investigations — 20 more than the previous year — while beginning 50 new investigations. Its investigators deployed 69 times to collect data and perform analysis at sites of occurrences.
“This year we focused on completing many of our long-running investigations, some of which have highlighted significant safety issues present in Canada’s transportation system,” TSB Chair Kathy Fox said in a press release. “Additionally, last fall we released the most recent edition of the TSB Watchlist, putting the spotlight on key safety issues and actions that need to be addressed to make Canada’s transportation system even safer.”
A rail accident was the subject of one of the four major investigations highlighted by the TSB in its summary of the year’s activity. The report released in August 2022 addressed the collision of two Canadian National trains near Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, and included a recommendation for a train control system to avoid collisions [see “Transportation Safety Board calls for PTC-style system …,” News Wire, Aug. 25, 2022].
The board says it received 188 confidential reports of potentially unsafe act or conditions under its SECURITAS reporting system. Of those reports, 78 involved rail transportation; 76 have been closed. The other two are the only outstanding investigations across all modes of transportation. Air transportation had the most SECURITAS reports received, with 81. More on the SECURITAS program is available here.
The full annual report, which includes a list of all investigation reports released in 2022-23, as well as more specific information for each mode of transport, is available here.
