OTTAWA, Ontario — Transport Canada has approved new rules to address uncontrolled movement of railway equipment during switching.
The approved rules, announced July 30, determine when air brakes must be used during switching, to ensure a consistent approach across the rail system; measure to secure stationary equipment during switching operations; and speed restrictions when switching with a remote-controlled locomotive.
Those rules follow a September 2020 ministerial order on switching safety, and additional actions taken in October 2020 as a result of fatal 2017 accident at a Canadian National yard in Saskatchewan [see “Digest: Canada to require new switching rules …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 9, 2020].
