By The Canadian Press
A broken rail caused a Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. freight train to derail in February 2014 in Manitoba.
The Transportation Safety Board says in its report into the derailment near Keyes that the rail failed due to another train with defective wheels travelling through the same area about six hours earlier.
The freight train had left Bredenbury, Sask., for St. Paul, Minn., and was made up of two locomotives, 50 loaded cars and 22 empty cars.
The board says the crew first noted a rough section of track just before 25 loaded covered hopper cars and two empty cars left the track.
There were no dangerous goods and no injuries.
The board says the previous train had one car with large, flat spots on its wheel treads, which indicates brake failure, and that likely affected the integrity of the rail.
The investigation says there are no explicit protocols in place to inspect the track after a train with known high-impact wheels passes through non-signalled territory.
The TSB is an independent agency that investigates marine, pipeline, railway and aviation transportation incidents.
