Railway Safety

As shown on the events that occurred during September, 1997, protocols needs to be exercised to ensure the safety of passengers aboard VIA Rail trains. With the lack of safety procedures carried out by the employees of VIA Rail, one person lost their life while 60 more were injured. Had the derailment occurred in a different location, out of the 196 people on the train the mast majority of them could have lost their life to the ignorance of safety protocols from the VIA Rail workers.

This single event displays the importance of the safety requirements that should be carried through every train departure. It is clear that VIA Rail was aware that something was out of the ordinary at this time but failed to respond to obvious signs of danger. In future decisions, anything amiss should clearly be looked at prior to the train's arrival to the distress signal location. The real problem here is not the axle that had overheated, but the lack of concern from the workers to take action and fix this problem, potentially saving many lives in the process.