CNR engineer responsible for train collision reinstated by arbitrator

Failure to follow procedure resulting in costly accident warranted serious discipline but not dismissal for worker

A Canadian National Railway (CNR) employee has been reinstated by an arbitrator after the employee’s carelessness contributed to a train collision.

The CNR employee was a locomotive engineer with seven years of service with the railway and two-and-one-half years of service as an engineer. He had some discipline on his record amounting to 10 demerits.

On Nov. 17, 2014, the engineer and a conductor were working out of a yard in Winnipeg. Their assignment was to drive two light locomotives to a receiving yard. The trip required travel eastward, followed by a switch to another track and then westward. They knew another train of locomotives was on the westward track, so they would have to follow signals to ensure there was sufficient room ahead of them.

The locomotives travelled eastward without event until they reached the track switch point, where there was a red signal indicating they must stop and wait. Eventually, the signal changed and indicated they could proceed, so they switched tracks and moved onto the westward track, moving in reverse. They travelled at the maximum track speed of 25 miles per hour until they reached an S-curve in the track.

The engineer believed the other train was some distance ahead, so the conductor stayed in the lead engine rather than moving to the other one and taking the leading point during the reversing process through the curve. The engineer thought it was safe to continue reversing, so he moved the throttle immediately from 0 to 8.

As they rounded one of the curves, the conductor lost his line of sight and told the engineer. However, the engineer claimed he didn’t hear the conductor. Both believed the track was clear, so they didn’t do anything else. However, the other train was ahead of them and they collided with it. The resulting damage to four locomotives in the two trains was almost $1.5 million and both the engineer and conductor of the other train suffered injuries that prevented them from immediately returning to regular duties.

CNR had a specific rule that stated a crew member must be on the leading piece of equipment or on the ground when an engine is pushing equipment, so the track can be observed and signals can be given to the engineer – unless the track is known to be clear.

Following the collision, CNR issued a bulletin to its operating employees reminding them of this rule. It also added that when reversing, “a member of the crew must be on the leading platform and/or footboard, and in a position from which signals necessary can be given.”

CNR determined the engineer was reckless and was responsible for the collision causing injuries and costing the company a lot of money, as well as breaching its trust. His employment was terminated.

The arbitrator noted that the engineer was “clearly mistaken” when he believed the track ahead of him was clear to the point where their sightlines would be enough to see while reversing around the curve in the track. Even though he was mistaken, he still breached the rule requiring a crew member on the leading point. The fact the company issued a bulletin afterwards didn’t mean the engineer shouldn’t have known the rule; the bulletin “simply clarified what should have been obvious,” said the arbitrator.

The arbitrator agreed that the crew’s failure to follow the rule was a serious breach the led to “a serious collision with substantial financial losses to the company” and injuries that could have been much worse.

However, despite CNR’s legitimate concern about the engineer’s serious error, the arbitrator found the employment relationship was not beyond saving. Instead, the arbitrator determined a suspension without pay equal to the amount of time since his discharge would serve the purpose intended by discipline and ordered CNR to reinstate the engineer without compensation for any wages or benefits lost.

“I am of the view that the imposition of a serious sanction, short of termination, will have the desired rehabilitative impact on this (employee),” said the arbitrator. See Canadian National Railway and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (Harrower), Re, 2015 CarswellNat 6419 (Can. Railway Office of Arb. & Dispute Res.).

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