Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Train Travelling At Lightning Speed Through Mimico Train Yard?

Well maybe not lightning speed but well over the posted speed limit.  I was on the delayed Lakeshore West train that was scheduled to leave Burlington station at 7:13 am.  As we boarded the train they mentioned the train behind us and understandably to save on Service Guarantee cost they let it pass us.  Not impressed but understand business bottom lines and accept the free ride.

However, the point of my post is SAFETY.  You probably remember years back that freight train moving too fast through the yard that crashed in the Mimico yard.  Turns out he was speeding.  Even worse the VIA train near King Rd Yard in Burlington that was going too fast and crashed that killed 3 and injured more.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/02/27/via_rail_derailment_passengers_describe_chaos_terror_in_deadly_burlington_train_crash.html

I ride the train a lot and generally there is caution around the yards.  Today is an extremely cold day we have had a mixture of warmer and colder days.  This is perfect condition for the tracks to tighten.  When they tighten additional speed can cause derailments.  It is this reason that I report this on my blog.  I also called Go Transit customer relations this morning to report it as well.  The first rep was rude because she thought I was complaining that the train was 34 minutes late but I clarified that I was actually reporting a safety issue and the passed me on.

I look forward to a response from Go Transit on this, how they are going to look into it and ensure their staff is aware of this deadly safety issue.