The cause of this month’s GO train derailment? Missing screws
Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay provided an update today, after a train derailed near Union Station on February 2
At a Metrolinx board meeting today, CEO Michael Lindsay shared a preliminary report explaining the cause of a recent GO train derailment.
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Earlier this month, a train derailed as it was pulling out of Union Station, causing chaos and significant delays for passengers. It took five days for GO service to be fully restored.
So, what happened? Lindsay explained that missing screws attached to a fastener that held two sections of the track together were the culprit. He said the screws “sheered under fatigue and gave way,” according to the Toronto Star. When that occured, the track moved by 1.125 inches, which caused the train to derail.
An investigation found that the rail fastener should have been secured with four screws, but was missing two.
“Our standards were updated in 2016 to require the four screws at each of these locations,” said Lindsay. “That non-compliance, and how it was allowed to persist, given the very numerous inspections that happened of the rail corridor, is something that we’re talking with Toronto Terminal Railways about right now.”
Toronto Terminal Railways is a private company that maintains the track. Lindsay added that Metrolinx is assessing its maintenance standards in addition. Crews examined other areas of the track and repaired “one or two” other incidents of non-compliance.
Per the Canadian Press, Lindsay emphasized that GO trains are generally safe. “I can offer a very confident assurance both to the board as well as to our riding public that the (Union Station Rail Corridor) and the track within it has been inspected and is safe,” he said.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
