A Calgary-based CP Rail manager could face up to six months in prison and be charged $50,000 in fines after being found guilty of violating the Railway Safety Act.
On July 16 CP Rail manager Tim McClelland was found guilty of contravening an emergency directive made by Canada’s Transport minister in the aftermath of the Lac Megantic disaster. The directive required all rail companies to ensure handbrakes were properly applied to locomotives left unattended for more than an hour.
According to online documents, the court found the Canadian Pacific Railway company and former superintendent Mark Jackson not guilty. All three pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The charges relate to an incident which took place on Feb. 15, 2015, in which 57 loaded freight cars, some of which contained dangerous commodities, were left unattended on Greeley Hill above Revelstoke with only their secondary air brakes applied. The incident occurred as workers were preparing to strike. The train was left unattended overnight and moved the next day.
McClelland was on duty on the night of the incident and sent orders to the crew in Revelstoke, according to the CBC.
The CBC story reported that sources confirmed to them at the time that the conductor and engineer both questioned the directive, which they were told over the radio came to them from former superintendent of the B.C. Interior Division Mark Jackson.
In the aftermath of the incident Jackson was fired. He has since sued the company over his dismissal.
The Feb. 2015 incident was revealed after Transport Canada raided CP Rail’s Calgary Headquarters in June 2015.
The court trial began in Revelstoke in May 2017 when Jackson, CP Rail, and McClelland pleaded not guilty at the Revelstoke Law Court. The charges were laid in November 2016.
McClelland is currently awaiting sentencing. He is scheduled in court in Vernon on July 25.
The oral ruling was delivered in court in Vernon on July 16, and is not yet available in written form. We will update with a subsequent story as more information becomes available.
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