London, Ont. train fire: How sparks from locomotive exhaust may have played a role

The Transportation Safety Board has confirmed that it is launching an investigation into the circumstances surrounding a train travelling through a major Ontario city while up in flames last month.

The blazing CPKC train travelled eastward through much of London, Ont., just before 11 p.m. on April 21, shocking onlookers and prompting the fire department to urge area residents to stay indoors as crews battled the flames.

The train eventually came to a stop around Waterloo and Pall Mall streets and firefighters were able to get the flames under control just after 1 a.m. April 22. The smouldering train was then moved a few blocks east to the railway yard that stretches between Adelaide and Quebec streets, just north of Central Avenue, where crews continued dousing hot spots.

At the time, firefighters had said the impacted train cars contained used wooden railway ties, which are used in laying railway tracks. No injuries were reported.

On Wednesday, the Transportation Safety Board confirmed that “after gathering additional information and evaluating the evidence,” it has decided to move forward with a formal investigation. The investigation will be Class 5, though, which is a lower-level investigation that does not require a comprehensive look at what happened, nor is an investigation report required.

“However, data on Class 5 occurrences are recorded in suitable scope for possible future safety analysis, statistical reporting, or archival purposes,” spokesperson Hugo Fontaine explained.

Fontaine also explained that the likely cause of the fire was “sparks from the locomotive exhaust along with the air flow of the moving train” which caused flames “to spread rearward to each subsequent car.”

The TSB also provided more information from preliminary findings, which suggests the train crew became aware of the fire at some point between Caradoc and London (Caradoc is roughly 30 km west of London).

Once the fire was discovered, the crew “immediately stopped and cut away from the tail end of their train, isolating the six open top gondola cars. They then slowly pulling the cars to a safe location just east of Waterloo Street crossing adjacent to a commercial fire hydrant. The crew then separated the locomotives from the gondola cars.”

The information from the TSB also notes that the London fire department was complimentary of the CPKC rail crew’s decisive actions.

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