From The National Post (Toronto):
Shock, anger and political jockeying greeted a revelation Thursday that VIA Rail Train 92 was travelling at more than four times the authorized speed when it jumped the tracks and slammed into a building on the weekend, killing three employees and injuring dozens of passengers.
The Toronto-bound train, which derailed in Burlington on Sunday, left the station and never slowed down, said Transportation Safety Board lead investigator Tom Griffith. The train’s brakes and signals were working, but black box data revealed the brakes were not applied, he said.
While trains switching tracks along that stretch in Burlington are required to slow to 24 kilometres per hour from 129 km/h, Mr. Griffith noted, VIA Rail Train 92 was travelling at 108 km/hr as it switched tracks.
“In normal circumstances, if anybody on our roads here in Toronto was [exceeding the speed limit by that degree], they would be in a very significant amount of trouble with the law,” said lawyer Ted Charney, who is organizing a class-action lawsuit for passengers injured in the derailment. The board’s finding “reinforces the justification” for the action, he said.