The head of Metrolinx says a failure of rail fastenings is believed to have caused a GO Transit train derailment near Union Station in downtown Toronto earlier in February.
Metrolinx president and CEO Michael Lindsay provided an update on the investigation at the agency’s quarterly board meeting Thursday morning, offering the first public insight into what caused the GO Transit train derailment.
“Early findings indicate that the rail fastenings on the south rail of depot track three failed in a way that caused this derailment … the lag screws at nine separate locations on timber plates had sheared under fatigue and gave way,” he said.
“It allowed to give you a sense of the precision with which our rails have to be laid — a movement of the rail by one and one-eighth of an inch — which was enough to cause the rail to roll, and to cause the minor derailment that we experienced.”
It was just after 8:15 a.m. on Monday when a rear passenger car of a Kitchener-bound GO Transit train derailed. Metrolinx officials previously said the train was moving at low speed when it “experienced an issue that caused the rear of the train to come off the track and make contact with a track switch.” The train was removed from the affected area on Feb. 3.
There were no reports of injuries during the incident.
In addition to disruptions caused by damaged infrastructure near Union Station, GO Transit Lakeshore West and Lakeshore East riders had to deal with unrelated equipment malfunctions on the evening of Feb. 4.
Lindsay said Metrolinx staff are in the process of proactively issuing refunds to customers who tapped their Presto cards for train travel on Feb. 2 and 3, as well as the afternoon of Feb. 4, in response to the delays experienced.
More to come.
