Internal docs: Trainee was engineer of derailed train

From The Owosso Argus-Press

An internal Canadian National Railway memorandum dated one month before a train derailed Jan. 6 suggests the engineer assigned to work on the engine that crashed near Durand was a trainee, though a CN official vehemently denies the engineer was unqualified.

In a memo obtained through an anonymous source by The Argus-Press dated Dec. 7, Flint Trainmaster John Clark of CN Railway wrote: “Need Chris Garske and Chris Smith put on assignments as engineer trainees. Both I believe are not qualified outside of Pontiac yard.”

Chris Garske of Swartz Creek was the engineer on the train that derailed 12 rail cars near Pittsburg and Reed roads in Vernon Township, leaking hydrochloric acid and triggering the evacuation of 66 area residents.

CN Railway Spokesman Patrick Waldron refused to answer questions about the incident, citing an ongoing investigation, but he made the following statement:

“Any suggestion that the crew members involved in the Jan. 6 incident were not qualified to operate the train is mistaken and simply not true,” Waldron said Tuesday. “All CN crew members are qualified for their duties and are familiar with the territories on which they operate. That would include the two members who operated the train on Jan. 6.”