Hinton, Alta., is marking 40 years since Feb. 8, 1986, when a CN freight train and Via Rail’s Super Continental collided head-on east of town, killing 23 people. First responders, families and rail-safety experts say the disaster reshaped Canadian railway safety — and remains vivid in the community.
“It was just a big, tangled mess”
Colin Hanington was 22 years old and a volunteer firefighter when the call came in on Feb. 8, 1986. Initial details about the scope and location of the crash were, he said, “sketchy.” Crews followed a plume of billowing smoke to the site east of Hinton, near the railway control point of Dalehurst, where a CN Rail freight train and the Via Rail Super Continental passenger train had met head-on on a single-track line.
“As we got closer it was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe what we’re seeing,'” he said. “It was just the pile of cars and the smoke. It was unreal. It was just a big, tangled mess.”
Twenty-three people died and 71 others were injured. Hanington remembers the paramedics arriving right behind the firefighters and beginning to help survivors while his team put out the fires — and he remembers, most of all, the quiet.
“It was quieter than you’d think,” he said. “Everything that happened was settled other than the fire going and, of course, us making a racket. There wasn’t a bunch of noise. Just the sound of the fire, people talking and some yelling.”
The experience stayed with him. Hanington remained a volunteer firefighter, rose to lieutenant and then captain, and served as Hinton’s full-time deputy fire chief from 1995 to the end of 2005. “I still miss the fire service,” he said. “Once it’s in your blood, it never leaves.”
What the inquiry found
A public inquiry led by Justice René Foisy concluded that the freight crew failed to stop their train in time, because of incapacitation or other unknown factors. The Foisy Commission also highlighted serious flaws in the culture and safety practices at Canadian National Railway.
Lianne Lefsrud, an associate professor of engineering safety and risk management at the University of Alberta, said the crash came down to a window of about 17 seconds in which the engineer missed the advance signals to prepare to stop. “A train that size would take miles to stop. Was it foreseeable? Yeah. Passing signals happens all the time,” she said.
“Many steps have been taken since to prevent it from happening again, and enhanced train control is something that our regulators are looking at in terms of automatic braking on trains,” Lefsrud added. “There’s no doubt that the railway system is much safer than it was 40 years ago. Significantly safer and, again, sadly it’s because of learning from events like this.”
A town that has not forgotten
A stone cairn bearing the date of the tragedy marks the crash site, and a plaque with the names of all 23 victims — unveiled a decade ago — stands in front of a rail car at the Northern Rockies Museum of Culture and Heritage.
Hinton Mayor Brian Laberge said the accident has not been forgotten. “I was a punk kid when it happened. I think it’s interesting how, when you talk to people who were involved, it’s still fresh,” he said. “People got hurt and that’s impacted people. It’s impacted the first responders. I know there are health-care workers from the hospital who still remember that.”
Margaret Schultz, the museum’s operations manager, said the memories still burn — one hospital worker still carries the stress of being the only person in the kitchen the day of the crash, and a visitor once brought flowers for his wife, who died in the collision. The museum has no exhibit on the disaster.
“I’m hesitant to create an exhibit about it or include it in an event because it’s … still very alive in people’s memories,” Schultz said.
CN spokesperson Julianne Threlfall said the anniversary is a reminder of the critical importance of safety. “We honour the memory of those who lost their lives,” she said in a statement, “and extend our deepest sympathies to their families, friends, and all who continue to carry the weight of that day.”
