1 00:00:02,669 --> 00:00:05,005 An enormous freight train is out of control, 2 00:00:05,072 --> 00:00:06,974 tearing through the Canadian Rockies. 3 00:00:09,476 --> 00:00:13,046 The crew does nothing to slow the train's terrifying speed. 4 00:00:13,113 --> 00:00:14,848 Jack? Are you there? 5 00:00:14,915 --> 00:00:17,017 Charging the other way, 6 00:00:17,084 --> 00:00:20,721 a passenger train, with more than a hundred people on board. 7 00:00:28,962 --> 00:00:30,230 Front end. Jack, come in! 8 00:00:33,166 --> 00:00:34,201 Oh my God! 9 00:00:35,736 --> 00:00:38,839 Mayday, mayday, we're doing 90 miles an hour. 10 00:00:38,906 --> 00:00:39,840 Out of control. 11 00:00:43,577 --> 00:00:44,845 Take a life jacket! 12 00:00:45,579 --> 00:00:46,613 Where's the coast guard? 13 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:47,981 Don't let go! 14 00:00:59,293 --> 00:01:01,695 It is one of the most spectacular train rides in the world. 15 00:01:03,130 --> 00:01:06,567 Every year, thousands of people take the slow and easy way 16 00:01:06,633 --> 00:01:08,735 through Canada's Rocky Mountains. 17 00:01:09,102 --> 00:01:11,371 Avoiding traffic, they take the train 18 00:01:11,438 --> 00:01:14,241 and leave the driving to somebody else. 19 00:01:15,642 --> 00:01:18,545 In late winter 1986, 20 00:01:18,612 --> 00:01:21,582 a gentle trip through the Rockies will end tragically. 21 00:01:28,322 --> 00:01:30,057 It was like a mini atom bomb. 22 00:01:31,391 --> 00:01:33,727 And all of a sudden, it ignited - woof! 23 00:01:37,831 --> 00:01:39,166 I'm going to help you. 24 00:01:39,233 --> 00:01:42,035 I could hear the woman screaming, 25 00:01:42,102 --> 00:01:43,504 you know... 26 00:01:45,539 --> 00:01:47,140 to save her baby. 27 00:01:52,212 --> 00:01:54,648 An investigation makes shocking discoveries 28 00:01:54,715 --> 00:01:56,483 about the Canadian railroad industry. 29 00:01:57,885 --> 00:02:00,387 At that time, I didn't think that anything was wrong. 30 00:02:12,099 --> 00:02:14,234 February 8th, 1986. 31 00:02:14,301 --> 00:02:17,070 Spectacular northern lights dance across the sky 32 00:02:17,137 --> 00:02:19,373 over Edson Alberta, in Western Canada. 33 00:02:27,347 --> 00:02:29,316 Driving freight trains has been a lifelong dream 34 00:02:29,383 --> 00:02:33,787 for 48-year-old Canadian National Railways engineer Jack Hudson. 35 00:02:36,990 --> 00:02:39,359 But after 16 years on the job, 36 00:02:39,426 --> 00:02:42,763 he knows all too well that it can be a grueling career. 37 00:02:44,298 --> 00:02:47,968 Because Canadian freight trains travel such vast distances, 38 00:02:48,035 --> 00:02:50,304 up to 12 local crews may be used 39 00:02:50,370 --> 00:02:52,372 in the course of one cross-country journey. 40 00:02:53,073 --> 00:02:56,276 Hudson works a mountainous stretch of track through Alberta, 41 00:02:56,343 --> 00:03:00,080 running between his home town of Jasper and Edson to the east. 42 00:03:05,752 --> 00:03:08,589 Like many train men, Hudson works a regular beat. 43 00:03:08,655 --> 00:03:11,391 Driving over the same stretch of track, 44 00:03:11,458 --> 00:03:14,795 then turning around again with another train day after day. 45 00:03:25,706 --> 00:03:27,741 At around 11 pm last night, 46 00:03:27,808 --> 00:03:30,244 Hudson got off the freight train from Jasper 47 00:03:31,712 --> 00:03:33,113 and spent the night here, 48 00:03:33,180 --> 00:03:34,915 in the company bunkhouse at Edson. 49 00:03:38,085 --> 00:03:42,155 Now he's up again - after just three and a half hours of sleep, 50 00:03:42,222 --> 00:03:43,657 ready to return to Jasper. 51 00:03:50,364 --> 00:03:53,133 At the station, he's joined by his brakeman. 52 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,870 Like Hudson, 25-year-old Mark Edwards lives in Jasper. 53 00:03:56,937 --> 00:03:59,740 And like Hudson, he hasn't slept very much. 54 00:04:01,175 --> 00:04:02,442 Did you get some rest? 55 00:04:02,509 --> 00:04:05,279 Not much. Got a touch of the flu. 56 00:04:05,345 --> 00:04:06,413 I could use a full night's sleep. 57 00:04:07,848 --> 00:04:11,451 Hudson and Edwards will ride up front, in the first engine. 58 00:04:11,518 --> 00:04:14,955 Hudson drives the train, while Edwards keeps an eye on the brakes, 59 00:04:15,022 --> 00:04:16,790 and pitches in if Hudson needs any help. 60 00:04:19,193 --> 00:04:21,728 Known to his fellow rail men as Smitty, 61 00:04:21,795 --> 00:04:25,732 33-year-old Wayne Smith is Hudson's conductor. 62 00:04:25,799 --> 00:04:27,401 He's the last of the three-man crew 63 00:04:27,467 --> 00:04:29,203 in charge of the freight train this morning. 64 00:04:29,269 --> 00:04:30,404 Smitty. 65 00:04:33,073 --> 00:04:36,009 Smith rides in the caboose, the last car in the train. 66 00:04:36,677 --> 00:04:38,846 He acts as an extra set of eyes, 67 00:04:38,912 --> 00:04:40,414 making sure the men in the front end 68 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:41,782 know what's going on behind them. 69 00:04:43,717 --> 00:04:48,388 The three men are long-time employees of Canadian National, or CN, Rail. 70 00:04:48,455 --> 00:04:50,457 And all of them have been up and down this length of track 71 00:04:50,524 --> 00:04:52,159 countless times before. 72 00:04:57,798 --> 00:05:00,133 The train they are riding today is enormous. 73 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:03,470 CN train 413 is just under two kilometres long. 74 00:05:04,571 --> 00:05:06,840 The cars are filled with a collection of grain, 75 00:05:06,907 --> 00:05:08,942 metal pipes and chemicals. 76 00:05:08,976 --> 00:05:12,479 It tips the scales at more than 11 million kilos. 77 00:05:15,082 --> 00:05:17,484 As the freighter rolls into Edson, 78 00:05:17,551 --> 00:05:20,020 it slows to a crawl, but doesn't stop. 79 00:05:20,087 --> 00:05:22,456 Getting it started again would take time. 80 00:05:22,523 --> 00:05:25,058 and the crew wants their trip to begin as soon as possible. 81 00:05:26,894 --> 00:05:29,363 Hudson and Edwards take the train 'on the fly', 82 00:05:29,429 --> 00:05:31,832 boarding it as it rolls slowly along. 83 00:05:34,101 --> 00:05:37,404 According to CN Rail's code of conduct, this is illegal, 84 00:05:37,471 --> 00:05:39,706 but it's something crews do routinely. 85 00:05:46,413 --> 00:05:49,483 With the caboose still nearly 2 km away, 86 00:05:49,550 --> 00:05:52,119 Smith stands by the track to inspect the cargo 87 00:05:52,186 --> 00:05:53,620 as it crawls by. 88 00:05:53,687 --> 00:05:56,056 He makes sure there's nothing obviously wrong with the freight, 89 00:05:56,123 --> 00:05:57,424 or the cars carrying it. 90 00:05:58,859 --> 00:06:01,929 All set, Jack. Clear signal leaving Edson. 91 00:06:05,432 --> 00:06:07,401 Clear signal leaving Edson. 92 00:06:08,602 --> 00:06:11,171 Another part of Smith's job is to stay in touch 93 00:06:11,238 --> 00:06:13,173 with the front end of the train. 94 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:15,976 He's supposed to make sure they're alert throughout the journey. 95 00:06:23,617 --> 00:06:26,119 Now with the caboose pulling alongside the platform, 96 00:06:26,186 --> 00:06:27,254 Smith climbs aboard. 97 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:37,064 Okay, he's got the brakes off, you're good to go. 98 00:06:37,130 --> 00:06:38,599 See ya later. 99 00:06:42,069 --> 00:06:45,672 At 6:40 am, Hudson pushes the throttle. 100 00:06:45,739 --> 00:06:47,541 The freight train picks up speed 101 00:06:47,608 --> 00:06:51,512 as its 8000 horsepower diesel engines open up. 102 00:06:51,578 --> 00:06:55,015 The CN freight train begins the long haul west to Jasper. 103 00:06:55,082 --> 00:06:57,384 The men are going home. 104 00:06:57,451 --> 00:06:59,820 Dispatcher to 413. 105 00:06:59,887 --> 00:07:00,921 Good morning, dispatcher. 106 00:07:00,988 --> 00:07:02,422 Good morning, Jack. 107 00:07:02,489 --> 00:07:05,125 But Hudson isn't sure exactly how long his train is, 108 00:07:05,192 --> 00:07:06,560 or precisely what he is carrying. 109 00:07:06,627 --> 00:07:07,995 I'll get a measure at Medicine Lodge, here. 110 00:07:08,061 --> 00:07:09,263 I haven't had a chance yet. 111 00:07:09,329 --> 00:07:10,764 Oh, that's uh... 112 00:07:10,831 --> 00:07:12,833 You got pretty well all grain cars, eh? 113 00:07:12,900 --> 00:07:14,101 Yeah, I think so. 114 00:07:14,168 --> 00:07:15,169 Yeah. 115 00:07:15,235 --> 00:07:16,670 It should be the right length then. 116 00:07:16,737 --> 00:07:17,371 OK, OK, thanks. 117 00:07:22,709 --> 00:07:24,745 As 413 roars west, 118 00:07:24,811 --> 00:07:28,882 a VIA passenger train speeds east on the same track. 119 00:07:36,056 --> 00:07:39,193 VIA Rail's Super Continental passenger train 120 00:07:39,259 --> 00:07:41,461 is cruising toward Edmonton, Alberta. 121 00:07:45,832 --> 00:07:48,001 More than a 100 passengers are enjoying 122 00:07:48,068 --> 00:07:50,270 the spectacular scenery as it cruises through 123 00:07:50,337 --> 00:07:52,105 the rugged Canadian Rockies. 124 00:07:54,875 --> 00:07:58,078 36-year-old Jaimie Heyd is a car assembly operator. 125 00:07:58,145 --> 00:08:00,948 He's headed home to Ontario after a two-week visit 126 00:08:01,014 --> 00:08:02,749 to his family in Vancouver. 127 00:08:02,816 --> 00:08:04,918 It's a very very small community. 128 00:08:04,985 --> 00:08:08,255 You're in close proximity 129 00:08:08,322 --> 00:08:10,257 with a lot of people very very suddenly, 130 00:08:10,324 --> 00:08:12,659 and so there is a lot of people we got to meet 131 00:08:12,726 --> 00:08:15,095 and got to interact with. 132 00:08:15,162 --> 00:08:19,867 I remember there was a couple of ladies that we met over dinner. 133 00:08:19,933 --> 00:08:22,102 One was very very pregnant. 134 00:08:23,437 --> 00:08:25,806 While some passengers are still sleeping, 135 00:08:25,873 --> 00:08:28,175 Heyd goes into the Day Coach to do some reading 136 00:08:28,242 --> 00:08:29,543 before breakfast. 137 00:08:29,610 --> 00:08:31,445 It's the fourth car in the train. 138 00:08:31,512 --> 00:08:35,215 I remember this lady and she had a little boy with her, 139 00:08:35,282 --> 00:08:37,351 about three years old or whatever, 140 00:08:37,417 --> 00:08:40,921 and he was quite in awe, the little child was quite in awe of the scenery. 141 00:08:42,122 --> 00:08:44,725 So I sat down and I lifted the shade a little bit, 142 00:08:44,791 --> 00:08:46,860 so I could get some of the daylight coming in, 143 00:08:46,927 --> 00:08:48,362 and I started to read a pocket novel. 144 00:08:57,137 --> 00:09:02,009 Several cars behind Heyd is 61-year-old Assistant Conductor Herbert Timpe, 145 00:09:02,075 --> 00:09:04,678 an old hand on the Canadian passenger line. 146 00:09:04,745 --> 00:09:07,614 He's been riding this piece of track for 7 years. 147 00:09:07,681 --> 00:09:09,650 I had to be the assistant conductor 148 00:09:09,716 --> 00:09:11,285 and look after the passengers on that train. 149 00:09:14,288 --> 00:09:17,724 Next stop, Hinton. 150 00:09:19,593 --> 00:09:22,629 The passenger train is pulling into Hinton. 151 00:09:22,696 --> 00:09:24,531 The freight train is just about to reach 152 00:09:24,598 --> 00:09:27,167 Hargwen station, 20 km east. 153 00:09:28,802 --> 00:09:31,271 Here, the rail line briefly splits in two, 154 00:09:31,338 --> 00:09:33,874 so trains can pass each other. 155 00:09:33,941 --> 00:09:35,709 413 will take the upper track, 156 00:09:35,776 --> 00:09:38,078 while the passenger train passes below it. 157 00:09:40,681 --> 00:09:43,250 As Hudson approaches the split in the tracks, 158 00:09:43,317 --> 00:09:45,319 traffic signal lights tell him to slow down. 159 00:09:48,322 --> 00:09:51,325 Smitty, we've gotta an approach limited signal at Hargwen. 160 00:09:51,391 --> 00:09:53,560 Next station, Dalehurst. Over. 161 00:09:56,530 --> 00:09:59,700 Head end of 413. Approach limited at Hargwen. 162 00:09:59,766 --> 00:10:01,502 Next station, Dalehurst. Out. 163 00:10:05,606 --> 00:10:08,775 These are the last words these men will ever exchange. 164 00:10:12,646 --> 00:10:15,215 A dispatcher in Edmonton sets a switch, 165 00:10:15,282 --> 00:10:17,818 and 413 is forced onto the upper track. 166 00:10:30,230 --> 00:10:34,735 The Via passenger train arrives at Hinton station at 8:20 am. 167 00:10:34,801 --> 00:10:38,138 On board, 64 year old Martin Pederson settles down 168 00:10:38,205 --> 00:10:41,175 to breakfast in a downstairs lounge of the dome car. 169 00:10:41,675 --> 00:10:44,111 He's feeling rested after a good night's sleep. 170 00:10:45,312 --> 00:10:47,614 A former World War II fighter pilot, 171 00:10:47,681 --> 00:10:50,684 Pederson has a lot of experience with locomotives. 172 00:10:50,751 --> 00:10:52,319 Over the course of the war, 173 00:10:52,386 --> 00:10:55,022 he blew up 36 enemy trains in France. 174 00:11:00,694 --> 00:11:03,130 The night before, Pederson swapped war stories 175 00:11:03,197 --> 00:11:05,465 with another veteran he met on board. 176 00:11:06,366 --> 00:11:09,603 61-year-old Kenneth Cuttle is a former Royal Marine. 177 00:11:09,670 --> 00:11:10,804 It was February. 178 00:11:10,871 --> 00:11:15,776 I was going to Edmonton to look for another job. 179 00:11:17,177 --> 00:11:21,381 Like Pederson, Cuttle also fought behind enemy lines in World War II. 180 00:11:21,448 --> 00:11:23,984 Cuttle and Pederson are survivors. 181 00:11:24,051 --> 00:11:25,953 Let's go upstairs to the dome car, 182 00:11:26,019 --> 00:11:27,621 have a look around, see what's happening. 183 00:11:27,688 --> 00:11:29,623 The train was pretty comfortable you know. 184 00:11:29,690 --> 00:11:31,725 Not many people on board. 185 00:11:31,792 --> 00:11:34,228 I said: "Let's go up to the dome car", 186 00:11:34,294 --> 00:11:36,496 because it was just coming light 187 00:11:36,563 --> 00:11:38,332 and we could see lots of things 188 00:11:38,398 --> 00:11:40,334 we might not get another chance to see. 189 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:43,337 We were in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. 190 00:11:44,371 --> 00:11:47,341 There are now 115 people on board. 191 00:11:48,475 --> 00:11:50,477 But the train will never make it to Edmonton. 192 00:11:50,544 --> 00:11:55,015 And the passengers and crew enjoying the early morning trip 193 00:11:55,082 --> 00:11:57,584 will soon be fighting for their lives. 194 00:12:03,223 --> 00:12:05,092 It's a clear, sunny morning 195 00:12:05,158 --> 00:12:07,794 on board a passenger train in Western Canada. 196 00:12:07,861 --> 00:12:09,129 Breakfast is being served 197 00:12:09,196 --> 00:12:12,032 as the train rolls east through the Canadian Rockies. 198 00:12:13,066 --> 00:12:14,868 Just 15 kilometers away, 199 00:12:14,935 --> 00:12:18,472 an 11 million kilo freight train, CN 413, 200 00:12:18,539 --> 00:12:21,375 rumbles down the track towards it. 201 00:12:21,441 --> 00:12:24,611 With diesel engines still pounding at full throttle, 202 00:12:24,678 --> 00:12:29,816 it's pulling 113 rail cars of grain and hazardous material. 203 00:12:29,883 --> 00:12:31,919 From the outside, everything looks normal. 204 00:12:31,985 --> 00:12:35,355 But what's going on inside the lead engine of 413 205 00:12:35,422 --> 00:12:37,891 is about to become one of the greatest mysteries 206 00:12:37,958 --> 00:12:40,027 in Canadian railroad history. 207 00:12:44,932 --> 00:12:46,366 Freight trains and passenger trains 208 00:12:46,433 --> 00:12:48,702 often travel on the same track. 209 00:12:48,769 --> 00:12:51,071 For short sections, the track splits, 210 00:12:51,138 --> 00:12:54,341 so trains heading in opposite directions can pass safely. 211 00:12:54,408 --> 00:12:57,211 Today, 413 is on the upper branch. 212 00:12:58,512 --> 00:13:02,449 Signals tell the freight train to slow, then stop completely. 213 00:13:02,516 --> 00:13:04,484 The signals will only turn green again 214 00:13:04,551 --> 00:13:07,754 once the passenger train has passed safely by below. 215 00:13:07,821 --> 00:13:10,324 Then the freight train can rejoin the main line. 216 00:13:16,964 --> 00:13:19,199 But 413 isn't slowing down. 217 00:13:19,266 --> 00:13:21,235 It's now heading downhill 218 00:13:21,301 --> 00:13:23,403 and it charges through the warning lights. 219 00:13:23,470 --> 00:13:25,038 If it doesn't stop soon, 220 00:13:25,105 --> 00:13:27,174 it will return to the main line at full speed, 221 00:13:27,241 --> 00:13:29,810 straight into the path of the passenger train. 222 00:13:32,546 --> 00:13:35,349 Unaware of the bizarre behavior of 413, 223 00:13:35,415 --> 00:13:37,784 the passenger train continues east. 224 00:13:39,786 --> 00:13:41,922 Martin Pederson gets his breakfast. 225 00:13:44,191 --> 00:13:45,359 Hi! 226 00:13:51,598 --> 00:13:53,567 Up ahead, the freighter thunders through 227 00:13:53,634 --> 00:13:55,235 the last set of light signals, 228 00:13:55,302 --> 00:13:58,038 ignoring three red lights that command it to stop. 229 00:14:04,311 --> 00:14:06,980 It slams back onto the main line. 230 00:14:07,047 --> 00:14:08,849 It's traveling 95 km/h 231 00:14:08,916 --> 00:14:11,718 and weighs more than 11 million kilos. 232 00:14:11,785 --> 00:14:13,854 And still, it doesn't slow down. 233 00:14:19,393 --> 00:14:21,361 Herbert Timpe sits to relax. 234 00:14:24,064 --> 00:14:26,767 Ken Cuttle has a clear view of the railway ahead. 235 00:14:26,834 --> 00:14:30,170 I got in a conversation with an English guy 236 00:14:30,237 --> 00:14:32,372 and he had his back to the front. 237 00:14:32,439 --> 00:14:35,108 And I was looking over his shoulder forward, 238 00:14:35,175 --> 00:14:37,311 the way the train was going. 239 00:14:37,377 --> 00:14:39,847 There was a flickering light in the distance. 240 00:14:41,315 --> 00:14:44,484 And not knowing the track layout, I thought, 241 00:14:45,686 --> 00:14:48,822 "Oh there must be another line, and if it's another train, 242 00:14:48,889 --> 00:14:50,557 it's going to go past us", you know. 243 00:15:02,669 --> 00:15:04,605 Just as I was reading the pocket novel, 244 00:15:04,671 --> 00:15:06,740 one of the girls from the partier group 245 00:15:06,807 --> 00:15:09,710 happened to just walk past me. 246 00:15:22,990 --> 00:15:24,324 Oh my God... 247 00:15:25,959 --> 00:15:27,261 Oh my God!!! 248 00:15:30,864 --> 00:15:32,165 And then... 249 00:15:32,232 --> 00:15:33,534 Boom. 250 00:15:41,575 --> 00:15:44,578 The trains collide like two charging rams 251 00:15:44,645 --> 00:15:48,849 at a combined speed of nearly 200 km/h. 252 00:15:49,917 --> 00:15:52,586 Passengers are rocked by one collision after another 253 00:15:52,653 --> 00:15:55,622 as 70 freight cars pile onto the wreckage. 254 00:15:56,957 --> 00:15:58,358 Like an incoming wave. 255 00:15:58,425 --> 00:16:02,362 Grain cars, long pipes, 3 foot in diameter, 256 00:16:02,429 --> 00:16:05,232 30 feet in length, you name it, 257 00:16:05,299 --> 00:16:06,900 and these were flying through the air 258 00:16:06,967 --> 00:16:08,302 like toys! 259 00:16:09,336 --> 00:16:11,638 Thrown from the tracks by the force of the collision, 260 00:16:11,705 --> 00:16:13,607 one freight car flies through the air, 261 00:16:13,674 --> 00:16:15,876 smashing to a stop of the Via train... 262 00:16:15,943 --> 00:16:18,145 The whole world seemed to explode. 263 00:16:21,048 --> 00:16:22,816 It was like a mini-atom bomb. 264 00:16:25,452 --> 00:16:28,188 It was a big mushroom of black smoke. 265 00:16:34,494 --> 00:16:37,598 Then, everything was dark. 266 00:16:39,700 --> 00:16:42,069 I could no longer breathe 267 00:16:42,135 --> 00:16:44,805 because everything was filled with smoke. 268 00:16:48,041 --> 00:16:49,610 I thought I was going to die. 269 00:16:50,944 --> 00:16:52,479 And the very thing that happened was... 270 00:16:52,546 --> 00:16:54,248 I just resigned myself to that. 271 00:17:00,053 --> 00:17:03,590 I'd been working about 37 years on the railroad 272 00:17:03,657 --> 00:17:06,393 and I never never seen anything so bad. 273 00:17:13,634 --> 00:17:17,271 The wave of metal, grain cars 274 00:17:17,337 --> 00:17:20,674 stopped just where the dome car was. 275 00:17:20,741 --> 00:17:22,409 If it had gone another 30 feet, 276 00:17:22,476 --> 00:17:23,977 it would have covered us as well. 277 00:17:25,179 --> 00:17:26,914 In the same car, one deck below, 278 00:17:26,980 --> 00:17:30,017 Martin Pederson struggles to escape, 279 00:17:30,083 --> 00:17:31,518 but he can barely see 280 00:17:31,585 --> 00:17:33,020 what's happening in front of him. 281 00:17:33,086 --> 00:17:35,689 The window beside him shattered during impact, 282 00:17:35,756 --> 00:17:38,091 filling his eyes with broken glass. 283 00:17:44,398 --> 00:17:46,767 Almost 2 km behind the engine, 284 00:17:46,834 --> 00:17:51,872 the caboose of train 413 finally lurches to a stop. 285 00:17:51,939 --> 00:17:54,274 Conductor Wayne Smith sees a ball of fire 286 00:17:54,341 --> 00:17:55,943 glowing in the distance. 287 00:17:56,009 --> 00:17:58,612 But he has no idea how bad the situation is. 288 00:17:59,746 --> 00:18:02,015 Front end 413. 289 00:18:02,082 --> 00:18:04,117 I think we're in the bush or we're derailed. 290 00:18:04,184 --> 00:18:06,353 There's a big explosion up here 291 00:18:06,420 --> 00:18:08,055 and we have chemicals on the train, 292 00:18:08,121 --> 00:18:09,590 so stay away from it. 293 00:18:09,656 --> 00:18:12,292 Stay away from the dangerous goods. 294 00:18:15,128 --> 00:18:17,364 But all Smith gets in reply is an ominous silence. 295 00:18:22,002 --> 00:18:24,037 Passengers continue to struggle to escape 296 00:18:24,104 --> 00:18:27,274 the mangled wreck of their train as the smoke thickens. 297 00:18:27,341 --> 00:18:30,344 I was trained well in the Royal Marines to survive, 298 00:18:30,410 --> 00:18:32,145 and to act spontaneously. 299 00:18:32,212 --> 00:18:35,983 There was a window at the back of the dome car 300 00:18:36,049 --> 00:18:39,887 and it was all cracked, and I just jumped on the seat 301 00:18:39,953 --> 00:18:41,788 and smashed my head in through the glass roof, 302 00:18:44,191 --> 00:18:46,360 and shouted: "Come on, let's get out!" 303 00:18:52,232 --> 00:18:54,768 Cuttle and others jump from the car. 304 00:18:55,836 --> 00:18:59,673 I looked back, and all of a sudden it ignited - woof! 305 00:19:15,355 --> 00:19:17,424 Down below in the lounge car, 306 00:19:17,491 --> 00:19:20,160 Martin Pederson also manages to escape. 307 00:19:21,328 --> 00:19:22,996 But others aren't so lucky. 308 00:19:23,063 --> 00:19:25,365 Many are still trapped in the burning cars, 309 00:19:25,432 --> 00:19:27,401 including passenger Jamie Heyd. 310 00:19:28,202 --> 00:19:31,071 The roof of the coach had been crunched down. 311 00:19:31,138 --> 00:19:33,173 I'd lost my glasses. 312 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:35,509 I couldn't see, I couldn't breathe, 313 00:19:35,576 --> 00:19:38,946 and here was the porter that had been behind the snack bar, 314 00:19:39,012 --> 00:19:42,015 had opened up this exit way 315 00:19:42,082 --> 00:19:45,152 and he had vamoosed out through it. 316 00:19:45,219 --> 00:19:47,888 And I took off behind him too. 317 00:19:57,464 --> 00:19:59,666 Snap out of it! He was in shock. 318 00:19:59,733 --> 00:20:01,368 Hey! Snap out of it! 319 00:20:01,435 --> 00:20:02,870 "Hey buddy, pull it together here. 320 00:20:02,936 --> 00:20:03,904 There's people in here. 321 00:20:03,971 --> 00:20:06,240 We got to do something about it." But... 322 00:20:09,910 --> 00:20:12,546 Half blind without his glasses, 323 00:20:12,613 --> 00:20:15,816 Heyd goes back inside, trying to help others out of the wreck. 324 00:20:17,417 --> 00:20:19,186 413 here dispatcher... 325 00:20:19,253 --> 00:20:20,854 We got a big explosion up here... 326 00:20:20,921 --> 00:20:23,156 Back in the caboose, Smith is talking to the freight train's dispatcher 327 00:20:23,223 --> 00:20:26,960 some 285 km away in Edmonton. 328 00:20:27,027 --> 00:20:28,462 We better get a doctor out here. 329 00:20:28,529 --> 00:20:32,032 Herb Timpe, the assistant conductor on the passenger train, 330 00:20:32,099 --> 00:20:35,302 can hear the conversation on his radio and breaks in. 331 00:20:35,369 --> 00:20:37,271 And passenger coaches all over the ditch. 332 00:20:37,337 --> 00:20:38,572 And get an ambulance! 333 00:20:39,873 --> 00:20:41,742 And there's a whole bunch of cars on fire. 334 00:20:41,808 --> 00:20:43,610 You get that, dispatcher? 335 00:20:43,677 --> 00:20:46,680 We need to find the fire department here very badly. 336 00:20:46,747 --> 00:20:50,150 Some coaches are trapped with passengers inside, they're burning... 337 00:20:51,385 --> 00:20:53,887 I don't think the engineers lived through this one. 338 00:20:53,954 --> 00:20:55,689 It's a real mess. 339 00:20:55,756 --> 00:20:59,459 OK. That's right on the switch at Dalehurst, eh? 340 00:20:59,526 --> 00:21:01,228 Yes. I'm gonna walk up there 341 00:21:01,295 --> 00:21:03,096 and see if I can be of any assistance. 342 00:21:03,163 --> 00:21:06,266 What was the signal at Dalehurst when your head-end called it? 343 00:21:06,333 --> 00:21:07,801 Pardon me? 344 00:21:07,868 --> 00:21:11,004 What was the signal on that signal at Dalehurst? 345 00:21:13,974 --> 00:21:16,343 Well I was callin' him for the signal at Dalehurst 346 00:21:16,410 --> 00:21:18,178 quite a few times, 347 00:21:18,245 --> 00:21:20,681 but uh I kept calling him and there was no answer. 348 00:21:20,747 --> 00:21:22,883 Well, it should have been red on the panel. 349 00:21:22,950 --> 00:21:24,651 Well he must have ran it then, dispatcher 350 00:21:24,718 --> 00:21:28,255 because I could not get a hold of him. I tried and I tried. 351 00:21:28,322 --> 00:21:30,457 OK, alright. 352 00:21:35,329 --> 00:21:37,865 Back at the head of the passenger train, 353 00:21:37,931 --> 00:21:40,334 Jamie Heyd tries to save who he can. 354 00:21:41,602 --> 00:21:44,938 Are you OK? I'm going to help you. 355 00:21:46,273 --> 00:21:48,475 Heyd can hear the screams of men and women 356 00:21:48,542 --> 00:21:50,177 trapped in the flames. 357 00:21:50,244 --> 00:21:55,649 I could hear the woman I had dinner with the night before, 358 00:21:55,716 --> 00:21:58,552 screaming, you know uh... 359 00:22:01,321 --> 00:22:03,524 to save her baby. 360 00:22:06,393 --> 00:22:09,596 Heyd was not able to save the mother and her child, 361 00:22:09,663 --> 00:22:11,732 they are out of reach under debris. 362 00:22:14,801 --> 00:22:17,905 That was... that was difficult. 363 00:22:21,675 --> 00:22:25,279 People who were trapped and couldn't get out, screaming, 364 00:22:25,345 --> 00:22:27,881 screaming like you'd never heard. 365 00:22:31,118 --> 00:22:34,154 One guy knew that his wife was trapped 366 00:22:34,221 --> 00:22:36,023 and he went back in and died with her. 367 00:22:40,727 --> 00:22:43,797 Another woman in the carriage under where we were 368 00:22:43,864 --> 00:22:45,933 had most of her leg cut off. 369 00:22:48,101 --> 00:22:51,605 James Heyd courageously decides to go back inside. 370 00:22:52,272 --> 00:22:55,509 The fire is a scorching 660 degrees, 371 00:22:55,576 --> 00:22:57,845 but Heyd tries to save one more life. 372 00:22:58,445 --> 00:23:01,248 There was the chap right in front of me there, 373 00:23:02,716 --> 00:23:06,753 and it was the chap I had dinner with the night before. 374 00:23:09,756 --> 00:23:11,725 And all of a sudden the flames came and consumed him. 375 00:23:17,664 --> 00:23:20,267 He just sat up and rubbed his head. 376 00:23:25,038 --> 00:23:27,274 There was nothing more we could do for him. 377 00:23:30,010 --> 00:23:33,413 Anybody in front of me in that coach was dead. 378 00:23:36,350 --> 00:23:39,253 For whatever the reasons, it wasn't my time to go then, 379 00:23:39,319 --> 00:23:40,854 for whatever the reasons. 380 00:23:43,490 --> 00:23:45,592 Wayne Smith is devastated. 381 00:23:45,659 --> 00:23:48,662 He can't reach his two friends at the front of the freight train, 382 00:23:48,729 --> 00:23:50,364 and he can't understand what happened 383 00:23:50,430 --> 00:23:53,300 to cause such an enormous disaster. 384 00:23:58,305 --> 00:24:00,140 In Western Canada, 385 00:24:00,207 --> 00:24:02,576 a freight train has smashed head-on into a passenger train 386 00:24:02,643 --> 00:24:04,912 carrying more than a hundred people. 387 00:24:06,780 --> 00:24:08,382 In the minutes after the collision, 388 00:24:08,448 --> 00:24:09,783 survivors are dragging themselves 389 00:24:09,850 --> 00:24:11,251 from the burning wreckage 390 00:24:11,318 --> 00:24:13,020 while others are still trapped inside. 391 00:24:15,122 --> 00:24:20,327 One of the girls that had been in the car in the morning, 392 00:24:20,394 --> 00:24:24,064 and I looked at her and I said: "I'm sorry to tell you, your..." 393 00:24:26,333 --> 00:24:27,968 He had no choice but to tell her 394 00:24:28,035 --> 00:24:30,470 what happened to her friend in the train. 395 00:24:32,139 --> 00:24:36,410 ...your friend was in the car here. 396 00:24:38,212 --> 00:24:40,214 She died trapped in the burning debris. 397 00:24:41,715 --> 00:24:43,884 I felt like the worst person in the world, 398 00:24:43,951 --> 00:24:45,953 because I had to tell her. 399 00:24:46,019 --> 00:24:49,223 If I could have taken back that one second in time 400 00:24:49,289 --> 00:24:51,825 and not tell her, you know. 401 00:25:02,603 --> 00:25:05,706 Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Mark Linnell 402 00:25:05,772 --> 00:25:07,941 is one of the first to arrive on the scene. 403 00:25:08,008 --> 00:25:11,111 I was told there was a train derailment, 404 00:25:11,178 --> 00:25:13,046 not a train crash. 405 00:25:13,113 --> 00:25:15,849 I mean that's a double whammy. 406 00:25:15,916 --> 00:25:18,085 The RCMP officer came. 407 00:25:18,151 --> 00:25:21,121 He could hardly speak, his mouth dropped open 408 00:25:21,188 --> 00:25:25,592 and he said: "I can't believe what I'm witnessing." 409 00:25:27,961 --> 00:25:29,897 It's a horrifying scene. 410 00:25:29,963 --> 00:25:33,700 Pictures taken shortly after the crash show utter devastation. 411 00:25:37,037 --> 00:25:39,540 I mean I was flabbergasted. 412 00:25:39,606 --> 00:25:41,508 I just couldn't believe it. 413 00:25:41,575 --> 00:25:43,810 And I... instantly. 414 00:25:44,878 --> 00:25:46,780 That's quite the thing to see. 415 00:25:55,689 --> 00:25:58,158 The collision is 18 km from the town of Hinton. 416 00:25:58,225 --> 00:26:02,095 It takes emergency crews some 45 minutes to get there. 417 00:26:02,162 --> 00:26:04,331 I was in the marines in England for 14 years 418 00:26:04,398 --> 00:26:09,002 and I'd seen a lot of disasters, 419 00:26:09,069 --> 00:26:11,505 man-made disasters, terrorist bombs, 420 00:26:11,572 --> 00:26:13,507 and I thought I'd seen it all. 421 00:26:13,574 --> 00:26:16,844 There was a lot of blunt force trauma, of course, 422 00:26:16,910 --> 00:26:18,278 flying glass, burns. 423 00:26:21,348 --> 00:26:23,750 And then I saw 424 00:26:23,817 --> 00:26:25,419 what appeared to be two bodies 425 00:26:25,485 --> 00:26:27,654 in the restaurant car hugging each other. 426 00:26:27,721 --> 00:26:29,456 We found out later it was a man and a wife, 427 00:26:29,523 --> 00:26:34,061 and this was one heck of a shock. 428 00:26:36,530 --> 00:26:39,032 As Linnell is escorting survivors away from the site, 429 00:26:39,099 --> 00:26:41,802 he sees a lone man with a radio coming down the track. 430 00:26:41,869 --> 00:26:43,737 Hey, how's the front end doing? 431 00:26:43,804 --> 00:26:45,506 What's your name? 432 00:26:45,572 --> 00:26:49,209 Smith is about to learn that his colleagues aboard his train are dead. 433 00:26:49,276 --> 00:26:50,310 Like what happened? 434 00:26:50,377 --> 00:26:51,411 Like, did they make contact with the...? 435 00:26:51,478 --> 00:26:53,213 We're still under the investigation 436 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:55,115 and there's not a lot that I can tell you right now. 437 00:26:55,182 --> 00:26:57,551 Okay, so they still might be... I mean...? 438 00:26:57,618 --> 00:26:59,286 No, I'm really sorry... 439 00:26:59,353 --> 00:27:02,089 He was distraught and shaken. 440 00:27:02,155 --> 00:27:04,691 His train is wrecked, with all his people dead. 441 00:27:28,348 --> 00:27:31,518 The Hinton train disaster is the worst railway accident 442 00:27:31,585 --> 00:27:33,954 to strike Canada in 35 years. 443 00:27:34,021 --> 00:27:37,491 More that 30 million dollars in property are destroyed, 444 00:27:37,558 --> 00:27:41,461 23 people are dead, and 71 others are severely injured. 445 00:28:00,147 --> 00:28:03,884 Wayne Smith is the only surviving crew member of the CN train. 446 00:28:03,951 --> 00:28:06,286 The only man who may be able to explain 447 00:28:06,353 --> 00:28:08,555 how a 11 million kilo freighter 448 00:28:08,622 --> 00:28:11,358 plowed head first into an oncoming passenger train. 449 00:28:12,292 --> 00:28:14,228 What he knows could be critical 450 00:28:14,294 --> 00:28:16,396 to unraveling the cause of the disaster. 451 00:28:18,866 --> 00:28:20,367 Two days after the collision, 452 00:28:20,434 --> 00:28:24,171 the Alberta Government establishes an Official Commission of Inquiry. 453 00:28:24,238 --> 00:28:29,343 And the Honorable Mr. Justice Rene P. Foisy leads the investigation. 454 00:28:29,409 --> 00:28:32,646 Judge Foisy is a justice of the Alberta Court of Appeal. 455 00:28:32,713 --> 00:28:36,683 It was reasonably simple, I mean: What caused the accident? 456 00:28:38,285 --> 00:28:40,888 But it turned out to be a lot more complicated than that 457 00:28:40,954 --> 00:28:44,291 because there were no easy answers as to what caused the accident. 458 00:28:45,492 --> 00:28:49,963 Freight and passenger trains routinely use the same tracks without incident. 459 00:28:50,030 --> 00:28:52,232 What was different this time? 460 00:28:52,299 --> 00:28:55,636 Over the next 11 months, Foisy calls on 150 witnesses 461 00:28:55,702 --> 00:28:58,005 and specialists to help him find out. 462 00:28:58,071 --> 00:29:01,441 I think what has most surprised me is the complex procedures, 463 00:29:01,508 --> 00:29:05,212 the equipment, the overall complexity 464 00:29:05,279 --> 00:29:08,081 that we have to look at in running a railroad, 465 00:29:08,148 --> 00:29:10,350 and what goes on in running a railroad. 466 00:29:10,417 --> 00:29:13,353 While Conductor Smith recovers from the accident, 467 00:29:13,420 --> 00:29:15,289 Foisy gets to work. 468 00:29:15,355 --> 00:29:17,291 He begins by studying the signals 469 00:29:17,357 --> 00:29:20,227 that should have told the freight train to stop. 470 00:29:20,294 --> 00:29:23,297 If they weren't working, the crew on 413 471 00:29:23,363 --> 00:29:25,365 may not have thought they needed to slow down. 472 00:29:28,368 --> 00:29:32,472 CN did a very in-depth test 473 00:29:32,539 --> 00:29:34,441 on the signal system 474 00:29:34,508 --> 00:29:37,744 and it was determined that 475 00:29:37,811 --> 00:29:41,548 it was performing properly. 476 00:29:41,615 --> 00:29:43,183 We went further. 477 00:29:43,250 --> 00:29:46,987 We hired our own independent experts to test the systems. 478 00:29:49,022 --> 00:29:51,491 The switches which operate the signal lights 479 00:29:51,558 --> 00:29:53,727 were frozen in position after the accident. 480 00:29:53,794 --> 00:29:57,898 Electrical engineer Eugene Kowch was hired to read them. 481 00:29:57,965 --> 00:30:00,334 Perhaps a mechanical fault in the system 482 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:01,835 had turned them green, 483 00:30:01,902 --> 00:30:03,804 telling the freight to speed through. 484 00:30:05,272 --> 00:30:08,542 A fault does not give a positive green light 485 00:30:08,609 --> 00:30:10,210 to any situation, 486 00:30:10,277 --> 00:30:14,114 so if there was a fault in any control part of the system, 487 00:30:14,181 --> 00:30:16,350 it would have forced everything to go to red 488 00:30:16,416 --> 00:30:18,352 which meant the passenger train would have stopped 489 00:30:18,418 --> 00:30:20,120 and would have forced the freight train to stop. 490 00:30:21,421 --> 00:30:23,590 If a mechanical problem wasn't the cause, 491 00:30:23,657 --> 00:30:25,959 there was a more chilling possibility. 492 00:30:26,026 --> 00:30:29,329 Perhaps someone set the freight train lights to green on purpose, 493 00:30:29,396 --> 00:30:31,865 causing the two trains to collide. 494 00:30:31,932 --> 00:30:34,001 Kowch dismissed that idea too. 495 00:30:34,067 --> 00:30:36,403 To do that would mean that somebody would have to actually go there 496 00:30:36,470 --> 00:30:38,839 and really maliciously change things, 497 00:30:38,906 --> 00:30:42,543 and there was no sign of any tampering on any mechanisms. 498 00:30:43,844 --> 00:30:45,078 Basically our conclusion, 499 00:30:45,145 --> 00:30:48,482 we felt the system was sound and was safe. 500 00:30:49,683 --> 00:30:51,685 Foisy believes the lights were red, 501 00:30:51,752 --> 00:30:53,554 but the freight train ignored them. 502 00:30:53,620 --> 00:30:56,123 Perhaps another mechanical fault was behind the crash. 503 00:30:56,190 --> 00:30:59,860 Well I was calling him for the signal at Dalehurst, quite a few times. 504 00:30:59,927 --> 00:31:01,161 In his statement after the crash, 505 00:31:01,228 --> 00:31:04,364 Conductor Wayne Smith told Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers 506 00:31:04,431 --> 00:31:06,600 that something was wrong with his radio that morning. 507 00:31:06,667 --> 00:31:08,368 ...because I could not get a hold of him. 508 00:31:08,435 --> 00:31:10,003 I tried and I tried. 509 00:31:11,638 --> 00:31:14,474 Maybe the front of the train was having mechanical problems, 510 00:31:14,541 --> 00:31:17,578 but they weren't able to get in contact with Smith. 511 00:31:17,644 --> 00:31:21,849 Joseph Hebert examines the portable radios the crew used. 512 00:31:21,915 --> 00:31:24,751 The first test was with the radio 513 00:31:24,818 --> 00:31:28,255 that was on the train that was in the accident at Hinton. 514 00:31:28,322 --> 00:31:31,425 The radio performed to specifications. 515 00:31:32,492 --> 00:31:34,795 But even if the radios themselves were working, 516 00:31:34,862 --> 00:31:36,730 there could be another problem. 517 00:31:36,797 --> 00:31:39,733 Many employees CN claim there are places along the tracks 518 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:43,637 where radio communication is impossible - so-called dead spots. 519 00:31:43,704 --> 00:31:47,007 And it's not a dead spot that's there 365 days a year. 520 00:31:47,074 --> 00:31:49,743 The possibility was also examined and dismissed. 521 00:31:49,810 --> 00:31:51,678 Sometimes you can't. 522 00:31:51,745 --> 00:31:53,013 Some radios are stronger. Some are weaker. 523 00:31:54,448 --> 00:31:57,751 The second test done, as far as communications 524 00:31:57,818 --> 00:32:00,120 between the locomotive and the caboose, 525 00:32:00,187 --> 00:32:03,423 was done with the same type of radio as was used 526 00:32:03,490 --> 00:32:05,526 at the time the accident took place. 527 00:32:08,462 --> 00:32:11,632 The field tests with that type of radio 528 00:32:11,698 --> 00:32:13,967 had satisfactory performance. 529 00:32:14,034 --> 00:32:16,203 The evidence was pretty clear 530 00:32:16,270 --> 00:32:18,238 and we concluded that there were no dead spots. 531 00:32:21,742 --> 00:32:24,411 One other possible explanation is examined. 532 00:32:24,478 --> 00:32:27,080 Natural phenomena like the Northern lights 533 00:32:27,147 --> 00:32:29,116 can also affect radio performance. 534 00:32:29,183 --> 00:32:32,119 Uh, I'll get a measure at Medicine Lodge-- 535 00:32:32,186 --> 00:32:34,988 Northern lights can build up 536 00:32:35,055 --> 00:32:37,991 very high currents in communication lines. 537 00:32:38,058 --> 00:32:41,295 Anything hooked up to a radio can pick it up. 538 00:32:42,262 --> 00:32:45,899 My determination of it was that they were not a factor. 539 00:32:48,535 --> 00:32:50,037 If the signals were red, 540 00:32:50,103 --> 00:32:53,640 and the radios were working, why had the train crashed? 541 00:32:55,642 --> 00:32:57,978 Foisy examines an ingenious piece of technology: 542 00:32:58,045 --> 00:32:59,513 the Hot Box Detector. 543 00:33:01,181 --> 00:33:03,584 Sitting beside the track, hotboxes monitor 544 00:33:03,650 --> 00:33:06,153 the temperature of a train's wheels and axles. 545 00:33:06,220 --> 00:33:10,090 They also record the speed of trains as they roar by. 546 00:33:11,124 --> 00:33:13,827 When Foisy and his advisors examine the hot box data, 547 00:33:13,894 --> 00:33:16,029 they make a telling discovery. 548 00:33:20,133 --> 00:33:22,336 When the front of the freight train passed 549 00:33:22,402 --> 00:33:24,338 the hot box detector just after Hargwen, 550 00:33:24,404 --> 00:33:27,074 it was traveling a little over 60 km/h. 551 00:33:28,108 --> 00:33:30,110 But by the time the caboose passed it, 552 00:33:30,177 --> 00:33:33,046 the train was going more than 74 km/h. 553 00:33:33,947 --> 00:33:36,717 Despite the signals telling it to slow down, 554 00:33:36,783 --> 00:33:37,985 the train was speeding up. 555 00:33:39,820 --> 00:33:41,054 For the last 5 miles, 556 00:33:41,121 --> 00:33:43,357 we were able to determine that the freight train 557 00:33:43,423 --> 00:33:48,428 was going at least 59 Mph, 558 00:33:48,495 --> 00:33:50,864 perhaps as high as 60 or 61. 559 00:33:50,931 --> 00:33:54,468 There were no break applications before the crash as well. 560 00:33:54,535 --> 00:33:57,471 The crew let the train travel too fast. 561 00:33:57,538 --> 00:33:59,773 They did not head signals to stop. 562 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:01,842 And they never applied the brakes. 563 00:34:01,909 --> 00:34:04,278 It all points to a train that was out of control. 564 00:34:06,813 --> 00:34:09,049 Why there were no brake application? 565 00:34:09,116 --> 00:34:10,884 It's difficult to understand. 566 00:34:14,254 --> 00:34:15,255 Oh my God!!! 567 00:34:19,226 --> 00:34:21,161 With mechanical problems ruled out, 568 00:34:21,228 --> 00:34:24,331 Foisy begins to examine the crew of the freight train. 569 00:34:24,398 --> 00:34:27,334 Perhaps there is something about engineer Jack Hudson, 570 00:34:27,401 --> 00:34:29,069 who was in charge of the train, 571 00:34:29,136 --> 00:34:31,438 that could explain what happened that day. 572 00:34:32,739 --> 00:34:35,275 As Foisy begins sifting through Hudson's medical records 573 00:34:35,342 --> 00:34:37,077 and interviewing his family, 574 00:34:37,144 --> 00:34:39,513 he makes a disturbing discovery. 575 00:34:43,283 --> 00:34:45,285 A train collision in Western Canada 576 00:34:45,352 --> 00:34:47,054 has killed 23 people. 577 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:48,922 Another 71 are injured. 578 00:34:49,957 --> 00:34:52,092 The man leading the inquiry into the disaster 579 00:34:52,159 --> 00:34:54,394 has ruled out mechanical problems. 580 00:34:54,461 --> 00:34:58,065 Judge Rene Foisy now takes a closer look at Jack Hudson, 581 00:34:58,131 --> 00:35:00,767 the 16-year veteran who was driving the freight train. 582 00:35:02,569 --> 00:35:06,039 When Foisy and the commission review Hudson's medical files, 583 00:35:06,106 --> 00:35:08,041 they are shocked by what they discover. 584 00:35:08,108 --> 00:35:12,012 Mister Hudson was a man who was sick. 585 00:35:13,180 --> 00:35:14,882 He was an alcoholic. 586 00:35:14,948 --> 00:35:18,752 He had high-blood pressure, which was problematic. 587 00:35:18,819 --> 00:35:20,053 He had diabetes. 588 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:23,757 He had a pancreatic attack 589 00:35:23,824 --> 00:35:26,260 the summer before this accident. 590 00:35:26,326 --> 00:35:30,864 He had to wear a colostomy for a number of months. 591 00:35:30,931 --> 00:35:34,101 Foisy wonders if this long list of illnesses could somehow 592 00:35:34,168 --> 00:35:35,869 have led to the train crash. 593 00:35:35,936 --> 00:35:39,840 The engineer Jack Hudson had been killed outright in the crash 594 00:35:39,907 --> 00:35:41,542 and had severe injuries. 595 00:35:41,608 --> 00:35:43,076 So we couldn't determine 596 00:35:43,143 --> 00:35:45,479 whether there has been a catastrophic medical event 597 00:35:45,546 --> 00:35:48,282 whether he'd had a heart attack for example or a stroke 598 00:35:48,348 --> 00:35:50,384 which had incapacitated him, 599 00:35:50,450 --> 00:35:52,119 but we were able to do toxicology 600 00:35:52,186 --> 00:35:54,321 and there was no alcohol or drugs present. 601 00:35:54,388 --> 00:35:56,056 He did have a lot of health problems 602 00:35:56,123 --> 00:35:57,524 and he had some problems at home. 603 00:35:59,226 --> 00:36:03,297 That these problems at home appeared to be on the mend, 604 00:36:03,363 --> 00:36:05,966 and that he was not the kind of man who, 605 00:36:06,033 --> 00:36:07,801 if he was going to commit suicide, 606 00:36:07,868 --> 00:36:12,406 would take 23 people with him and injure another 70, 607 00:36:12,472 --> 00:36:14,808 some of them very very seriously, 608 00:36:14,875 --> 00:36:17,477 so we discounted that possibility of a suicide. 609 00:36:18,779 --> 00:36:20,347 If it wasn't suicide, 610 00:36:20,414 --> 00:36:23,817 if Hudson did have a stroke or heart attack at the controls, 611 00:36:23,884 --> 00:36:27,521 why didn't his brakeman Mark Edwards take any action? 612 00:36:27,588 --> 00:36:31,458 Investigators come up with one plausible answer. 613 00:36:31,525 --> 00:36:33,293 Did you get some rest? 614 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:36,129 Not much. Got a touch of the flu. 615 00:36:36,196 --> 00:36:38,131 Could use a full night's sleep. 616 00:36:40,267 --> 00:36:43,003 Perhaps Edwards had been asleep on the job. 617 00:36:45,138 --> 00:36:48,375 Dr. Alison Smiley is an expert on sleep and fatigue. 618 00:36:50,143 --> 00:36:52,846 Jack Hudson, he had had at the very most 619 00:36:52,913 --> 00:36:56,450 before he went on duty that day, three and a half hours of sleep. 620 00:36:56,517 --> 00:36:59,286 And that is if he slept from the last moment 621 00:36:59,353 --> 00:37:01,522 somebody saw him till the moment 622 00:37:01,588 --> 00:37:04,591 somebody next saw him again. Three and a half hours. 623 00:37:07,060 --> 00:37:09,530 The brakeman said had a touch of the flu, 624 00:37:09,596 --> 00:37:12,799 and he had 5 hours of sleep the night before. 625 00:37:13,767 --> 00:37:18,572 Wayne Smith, similarly, had had insufficient sleep, 626 00:37:18,639 --> 00:37:20,674 about five hours before the collision. 627 00:37:23,043 --> 00:37:26,246 As the freight train passed the signals telling it to stop, 628 00:37:26,313 --> 00:37:29,016 the entire crew may have been fast asleep. 629 00:37:29,082 --> 00:37:31,685 You could work at any time of the day, 630 00:37:31,752 --> 00:37:34,188 so one day you might start at 4 o'clock in the morning, 631 00:37:34,254 --> 00:37:37,591 the next day you start at 2 in the afternoon. 632 00:37:37,658 --> 00:37:39,493 Their hours were so erratic 633 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:41,962 that they were continually in a jet lag state. 634 00:37:42,029 --> 00:37:46,366 Because their physiology was never fully adjusted 635 00:37:46,433 --> 00:37:50,103 to any particular working hours. 636 00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:56,476 When it comes to staying alert, train engineers face many challenges, 637 00:37:56,543 --> 00:38:00,314 including long rides up and down the same stretch of track. 638 00:38:00,380 --> 00:38:05,786 The tracks going by one after the other. 639 00:38:05,853 --> 00:38:09,923 It's a very soporific situation to work in, 640 00:38:09,990 --> 00:38:13,026 and easy to see how somebody, 641 00:38:13,093 --> 00:38:15,596 no matter how motivated, 642 00:38:15,662 --> 00:38:17,698 could fall asleep. 643 00:38:19,733 --> 00:38:22,803 At the time, trains were equipped with safety devices 644 00:38:22,870 --> 00:38:25,739 that will automatically stop a train if the engine man died 645 00:38:25,806 --> 00:38:28,942 or fell asleep, the so-called Dead Man's Pedal. 646 00:38:30,577 --> 00:38:32,779 Basically, the engineer is supposed to keep 647 00:38:32,846 --> 00:38:34,481 his foot on the pedal. 648 00:38:34,548 --> 00:38:37,484 And while his foot is on the pedal, 649 00:38:37,551 --> 00:38:38,819 the train won't stop. 650 00:38:38,886 --> 00:38:41,088 If that pedal isn't depressed, 651 00:38:41,154 --> 00:38:44,458 then it will, after a number of seconds, 652 00:38:44,525 --> 00:38:47,728 give a warning, which is quite audible, 653 00:38:47,794 --> 00:38:50,297 and if nothing happens then, it will stop the train. 654 00:38:50,364 --> 00:38:53,467 But Foisy discovers that for many train men, 655 00:38:53,534 --> 00:38:56,537 disabling the dead man's pedal is standard practice. 656 00:38:56,603 --> 00:38:58,305 One of the excuses that was given 657 00:38:58,372 --> 00:39:02,376 by the engineers was that, to go long distances, 658 00:39:02,442 --> 00:39:04,044 having to keep your foot on that pedal 659 00:39:04,111 --> 00:39:05,846 was very uncomfortable. 660 00:39:05,913 --> 00:39:09,850 And so that they would sometimes 661 00:39:09,917 --> 00:39:11,885 put something on the pedal, 662 00:39:11,952 --> 00:39:13,887 a lunch box or something heavy enough to keep it depressed 663 00:39:13,954 --> 00:39:17,157 so that they could stretch their legs. 664 00:39:17,224 --> 00:39:19,893 Unfortunately, what was happening, 665 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:23,530 this pedal was being depressed for long long periods of time. 666 00:39:26,233 --> 00:39:28,769 But even if Edwards and Hudson had fallen asleep 667 00:39:28,836 --> 00:39:30,270 at the front of the train, 668 00:39:30,337 --> 00:39:32,372 and the dead man's pedal was rigged, 669 00:39:32,439 --> 00:39:34,107 Conductor Wayne Smith at the back 670 00:39:34,174 --> 00:39:36,076 could still have prevented the disaster. 671 00:39:37,477 --> 00:39:39,847 Almost two months into the Foisy inquiry, 672 00:39:39,913 --> 00:39:41,515 Smith takes the stand. 673 00:39:41,582 --> 00:39:43,550 Doctors had kept him from testifying earlier, 674 00:39:43,617 --> 00:39:46,320 saying he was too traumatized by the accident. 675 00:39:47,187 --> 00:39:48,922 Now, for the first time, 676 00:39:48,989 --> 00:39:50,457 investigators will hear Smith 677 00:39:50,524 --> 00:39:52,092 reconstruct events on board his train 678 00:39:52,159 --> 00:39:54,895 in the moments leading up to the disaster. 679 00:39:54,962 --> 00:39:57,431 I was sitting looking out the back of the train 680 00:39:57,497 --> 00:40:01,268 from my desk when we passed mile board 169 - 681 00:40:01,335 --> 00:40:05,706 that's the uh, that's the landmark 682 00:40:05,772 --> 00:40:08,575 that I used to initiate a call to the engineer to ask 683 00:40:08,642 --> 00:40:10,677 for the display at the Dalehurst approach signal. 684 00:40:14,715 --> 00:40:17,684 Head end of 413, what indication do you have 685 00:40:17,751 --> 00:40:20,854 at Dalehurst approach signal 1703? Over. 686 00:40:23,423 --> 00:40:25,759 The front end of the train is supposed to respond, 687 00:40:25,826 --> 00:40:28,128 letting Smith know that they've seen the signal lights 688 00:40:28,195 --> 00:40:29,429 telling them to slow down. 689 00:40:29,496 --> 00:40:32,432 Head of 413, can you hear me? Over. 690 00:40:32,499 --> 00:40:36,003 I probably called him three or four times. 691 00:40:36,069 --> 00:40:40,007 I didn't get a response on my gray radio. 692 00:40:40,073 --> 00:40:42,276 There was something wrong with it. 693 00:40:42,342 --> 00:40:46,213 What's the indication at signal 1703? Over. 694 00:40:49,249 --> 00:40:51,385 It's a surprising piece of testimony. 695 00:40:51,451 --> 00:40:54,321 Foisy already knows the radios were working fine. 696 00:40:57,424 --> 00:41:00,127 When Smith is asked how fast he thought the train was going 697 00:41:00,194 --> 00:41:02,696 before the collision, Foisy gets another surprise. 698 00:41:04,264 --> 00:41:09,136 I felt the front end give a light brake application on the caboose. 699 00:41:09,203 --> 00:41:10,504 Coming around the curve, 700 00:41:10,571 --> 00:41:14,541 I felt that we were doing track speed of about 50 Mph or less. 701 00:41:15,709 --> 00:41:17,544 But according to the hot box detectors, 702 00:41:17,611 --> 00:41:21,114 the train was traveling almost 16 km/h over track speed, 703 00:41:21,181 --> 00:41:23,650 and there was never any application of the brakes. 704 00:41:24,651 --> 00:41:26,520 I went to my red radio 705 00:41:26,587 --> 00:41:29,957 and I tried to get a hold of him, on it. 706 00:41:31,892 --> 00:41:35,028 Jack, how is the Dalehurst approach signal 1703? 707 00:41:36,930 --> 00:41:39,733 I was calling him on channel 1 three or four times 708 00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:42,302 and there was no answer, 709 00:41:42,369 --> 00:41:45,672 so I tried to get a hold of him on different channels. 710 00:41:45,739 --> 00:41:48,675 But once again, Smith's testimony doesn't add up. 711 00:41:48,742 --> 00:41:50,777 Foisy has heard from other train men 712 00:41:50,844 --> 00:41:53,614 who were monitoring their radios in the area that day. 713 00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:55,883 No one heard Smith call. 714 00:41:57,117 --> 00:41:59,453 Smith says he was still trying to contact Hudson 715 00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:01,522 when the end of the train raced past signals 716 00:42:01,588 --> 00:42:03,357 telling it to slow down. 717 00:42:03,423 --> 00:42:04,725 Jack! 718 00:42:04,791 --> 00:42:06,360 As an experienced train man, 719 00:42:06,426 --> 00:42:09,563 Smith knows that the next set of lights will likely be a triple red, 720 00:42:09,630 --> 00:42:11,632 telling the train to stop. 721 00:42:14,201 --> 00:42:15,736 He was getting no answer, 722 00:42:15,802 --> 00:42:17,838 and the train wasn't slowing down. 723 00:42:17,905 --> 00:42:20,474 An emergency brake cord was in easy reach, 724 00:42:20,541 --> 00:42:22,476 but Smith never pulled it. 725 00:42:23,677 --> 00:42:25,345 Jack, are you there? 726 00:42:25,412 --> 00:42:26,914 With Hudson mysteriously silent, 727 00:42:26,980 --> 00:42:28,515 Smith says he does nothing, 728 00:42:28,582 --> 00:42:30,150 but continue to call the front end. 729 00:42:32,252 --> 00:42:34,254 Front end. Jack come in? 730 00:42:34,321 --> 00:42:37,658 Why in the circumstances that you've described, 731 00:42:37,724 --> 00:42:39,059 did you not pull the brake? 732 00:42:39,126 --> 00:42:43,363 I felt the engineer had the train under control. 733 00:42:44,398 --> 00:42:47,367 I felt that he in fact, was doing what was necessary 734 00:42:47,434 --> 00:42:49,570 to control the train at that point. 735 00:42:51,205 --> 00:42:52,773 I never felt at any point in time 736 00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:55,542 that I should pull the emergency brake. 737 00:42:56,376 --> 00:42:58,912 At that time I didn't think that anything was wrong. 738 00:42:58,979 --> 00:43:00,247 That's the point I make, Mr Smith. 739 00:43:00,314 --> 00:43:02,583 That when there is a problem with the radio, 740 00:43:02,649 --> 00:43:03,717 you have been trained over the years 741 00:43:03,784 --> 00:43:05,552 to observe the signals. 742 00:43:05,619 --> 00:43:09,156 It would have been the last thing I would have done. 743 00:43:09,223 --> 00:43:11,158 He didn't pull the brake, he didn't pull the air, 744 00:43:11,225 --> 00:43:14,027 because he felt it hadn't reached that point. 745 00:43:14,094 --> 00:43:17,030 Basically that was his evidence 746 00:43:17,097 --> 00:43:18,732 and I had a lot of difficulty with that 747 00:43:18,799 --> 00:43:24,204 because if it... if that point hadn't been reached, 748 00:43:24,271 --> 00:43:26,840 when was it going to be reached, if ever? 749 00:43:28,008 --> 00:43:30,744 Smith's contradictory testimony is complete. 750 00:43:32,179 --> 00:43:35,816 Judge Foisy is now ready to close his case 751 00:43:35,883 --> 00:43:39,786 and lay the blame on those responsible for the disaster. 752 00:43:46,059 --> 00:43:50,297 The inquiry into one of the deadliest train crashes in Canada is complete. 753 00:43:50,364 --> 00:43:53,734 23 people were killed when a freight train crashed 754 00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:57,004 head on into a passenger train near Hinton, Alberta. 755 00:43:58,805 --> 00:44:02,176 Chief investigator Rene Foisy has explored every angle - 756 00:44:02,242 --> 00:44:05,546 from technical malfunction to human error. 757 00:44:05,612 --> 00:44:07,347 He is now ready to deliver his report 758 00:44:07,414 --> 00:44:09,082 on what went wrong that day. 759 00:44:10,584 --> 00:44:13,187 In his 205-page report, 760 00:44:13,253 --> 00:44:17,724 Foisy parcels out the blame, naming all the key offenders. 761 00:44:17,791 --> 00:44:20,661 Foisy writes that the train's engineer, Jack Hudson, 762 00:44:20,727 --> 00:44:23,897 failed to observe and obey light signals commanding him 763 00:44:23,964 --> 00:44:26,633 to stop his train before it entered the single track. 764 00:44:30,204 --> 00:44:32,206 If Hudson was unable to do his job, 765 00:44:32,272 --> 00:44:35,075 brakeman Mark Edwards failed to intervene. 766 00:44:35,142 --> 00:44:36,910 He also ignored the light signals 767 00:44:36,977 --> 00:44:38,245 and didn't brake the train 768 00:44:38,312 --> 00:44:39,913 before it entered the single track. 769 00:44:40,981 --> 00:44:43,417 Conductor Wayne Smith was guilty too. 770 00:44:43,483 --> 00:44:45,619 He had failed to follow operating rules 771 00:44:45,686 --> 00:44:47,054 and pull the emergency brake 772 00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:48,589 when he couldn't contact the two men 773 00:44:48,655 --> 00:44:49,723 at the front of the train. 774 00:44:52,893 --> 00:44:54,261 In a statement to police, 775 00:44:54,328 --> 00:44:55,662 he had even suggested 776 00:44:55,729 --> 00:44:57,598 that he thought they were sleeping. 777 00:44:57,664 --> 00:44:59,466 I said that my head end was asleep. 778 00:45:01,235 --> 00:45:03,036 Do you recall making that response, sir? 779 00:45:03,103 --> 00:45:04,738 Yes, I do. 780 00:45:04,805 --> 00:45:07,741 With so many contradictions in his testimony, 781 00:45:07,808 --> 00:45:10,811 Foisy rules that the conductor's evidence is unreliable. 782 00:45:10,878 --> 00:45:14,047 I wasn't sure what had happened, 783 00:45:14,114 --> 00:45:18,018 and uh, I went to my back desk, 784 00:45:18,085 --> 00:45:22,956 I'd jumped down my cupola and ran for... 785 00:45:25,058 --> 00:45:27,361 it seemed like we were just keeping going. 786 00:45:27,427 --> 00:45:29,196 There was no immediate stopping. 787 00:45:29,263 --> 00:45:30,764 The caboose kept sliding. 788 00:45:33,267 --> 00:45:35,736 Instead, Foisy emphasizes that Smith, 789 00:45:35,802 --> 00:45:36,870 like Edwards and Hudson, 790 00:45:36,937 --> 00:45:39,006 was dangerously tired that morning. 791 00:45:39,072 --> 00:45:42,276 I just wanted to get home, actually, at the time. 792 00:45:46,713 --> 00:45:48,348 But the crew aren't the only ones 793 00:45:48,415 --> 00:45:50,050 Foisy blames for the accident. 794 00:45:52,786 --> 00:45:54,421 According to the Foisy report, 795 00:45:54,488 --> 00:45:57,424 Jack Hudson may well have had a stroke or heart attack 796 00:45:57,491 --> 00:45:59,459 before the collision, 797 00:45:59,526 --> 00:46:02,563 but CN management had known about Hudson's medical record for years. 798 00:46:02,629 --> 00:46:06,733 He managed to accumulate, I think it was 40 or 50 demerits 799 00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:08,969 and at 60 you're fired. 800 00:46:09,736 --> 00:46:12,539 But after he got to that level, 801 00:46:12,606 --> 00:46:14,675 there were some other infractions 802 00:46:14,741 --> 00:46:16,009 which weren't recorded. 803 00:46:16,076 --> 00:46:19,046 Foisy also calls attention to the rules 804 00:46:19,112 --> 00:46:20,480 that were routinely ignored, 805 00:46:20,547 --> 00:46:22,249 such as rigging the dead man's pedal 806 00:46:22,316 --> 00:46:23,817 and taking the train on the fly. 807 00:46:25,886 --> 00:46:29,156 The conclusion we came to was that there was a lot to be desired 808 00:46:29,223 --> 00:46:31,258 on the part of CN, 809 00:46:31,325 --> 00:46:33,560 and that yes, there was certainly 810 00:46:33,627 --> 00:46:35,262 some laxness 811 00:46:35,329 --> 00:46:37,264 and some complacency 812 00:46:37,331 --> 00:46:39,299 when it came to these areas. 813 00:46:39,366 --> 00:46:42,369 Uh, I'll get a measure at Medicine Lodge here. 814 00:46:42,436 --> 00:46:43,770 I haven't had a chance yet. 815 00:46:43,837 --> 00:46:45,339 Oh that's uh... 816 00:46:45,405 --> 00:46:47,341 You've got pretty well all grain cars, eh? 817 00:46:47,407 --> 00:46:48,575 Yeah, I think so. 818 00:46:48,642 --> 00:46:50,444 There is a lesson to be learned here. 819 00:46:50,511 --> 00:46:53,146 It's that when you have rules, 820 00:46:53,213 --> 00:46:57,351 you obey the rules and you enforce the rules. 821 00:46:57,417 --> 00:46:59,887 If it becomes too much of a fraternity 822 00:46:59,953 --> 00:47:01,955 and a buddy-buddy system, 823 00:47:02,022 --> 00:47:03,924 it gets lax. 824 00:47:03,991 --> 00:47:06,360 And problems occur, 825 00:47:06,426 --> 00:47:07,794 and this tragedy was one of them. 826 00:47:09,263 --> 00:47:12,199 Foisy demands that CN improve its safety equipment, 827 00:47:12,266 --> 00:47:14,334 recommending that all trains be equipped 828 00:47:14,401 --> 00:47:17,070 with Reset Safety Control technology. 829 00:47:19,072 --> 00:47:21,241 These systems are much more complicated 830 00:47:21,308 --> 00:47:22,676 than a dead man's pedal. 831 00:47:22,743 --> 00:47:25,479 If constant attention is not paid to the train, 832 00:47:25,546 --> 00:47:28,282 alarms sound, and the train eventually shuts down. 833 00:47:30,584 --> 00:47:31,919 It's equipment which has proved 834 00:47:31,985 --> 00:47:34,354 valuable several times since the disaster. 835 00:47:35,155 --> 00:47:37,357 There was a study done with CN, 836 00:47:37,424 --> 00:47:39,693 10 years after this accident. 837 00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:44,097 They found something like 90% of the train engineers 838 00:47:44,164 --> 00:47:47,334 saying that they had been woken by the alerting device 839 00:47:47,401 --> 00:47:48,735 at least once. 840 00:47:50,037 --> 00:47:52,005 In response to Foisy's report, 841 00:47:52,072 --> 00:47:54,775 CN Rail creates one of the most sophisticated 842 00:47:54,842 --> 00:47:57,211 Fatigue Countermeasures Programs in the world. 843 00:47:57,277 --> 00:47:59,279 Train men are no longer on call 844 00:47:59,346 --> 00:48:01,748 seven days a week, 24 hours a day. 845 00:48:02,683 --> 00:48:04,885 Napping is no longer frowned upon. 846 00:48:04,952 --> 00:48:07,054 Rest houses have been created and improved 847 00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:09,623 and locomotive cabs made more comfortable. 848 00:48:18,565 --> 00:48:21,902 For the victims of the Hinton disaster of 1986, 849 00:48:21,969 --> 00:48:25,939 changes to Canadian railroading come too late. 850 00:48:26,006 --> 00:48:27,608 I still remember the people 851 00:48:27,674 --> 00:48:29,977 that were killed in the accident, 852 00:48:30,043 --> 00:48:31,645 and the good friends I had on the railroad. 853 00:48:32,880 --> 00:48:35,215 And that's really... 854 00:48:35,282 --> 00:48:37,484 It does bother me. 855 00:48:37,551 --> 00:48:39,887 Now it's 20 years nearly, 856 00:48:41,722 --> 00:48:43,290 and I'm still going strong. 857 00:48:44,791 --> 00:48:46,593 Very lucky. 858 00:48:46,660 --> 00:48:48,262 I don't equate it to luck, no. 859 00:48:48,328 --> 00:48:51,532 Too much of a tragedy to think about luck. 860 00:48:51,598 --> 00:48:54,701 There's too much hurt that happened inside of me. 861 00:48:54,768 --> 00:48:59,640 It took me quite a while to rebuild my sanity again. 862 00:48:59,706 --> 00:49:03,710 I got over it fairly quickly, and got on with my life. 863 00:49:03,777 --> 00:49:07,047 There may be lots of other people who weren't as lucky. 864 00:49:08,348 --> 00:49:10,651 You can be going along in life 865 00:49:10,717 --> 00:49:13,320 and then something comes along 866 00:49:13,387 --> 00:49:16,089 and just kinda destroys your very foundation, 867 00:49:16,156 --> 00:49:18,192 or shatters your very foundation. 868 00:49:20,060 --> 00:49:23,697 And through no fault of your own, 869 00:49:23,764 --> 00:49:25,199 but life has a habit of doing that. 870 00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:31,138 But the other thing I can share is that you can recover from it. 871 00:49:31,205 --> 00:49:33,140 There is a tomorrow. 872 00:50:11,945 --> 00:50:13,580 difuze