Canada's TSB deems rail switching safety recommendations 'fully satisfactory'

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) yesterday released its annual assessment of responses to 66 outstanding recommendations in the air, marine and rail transportation sectors, highlighting ongoing efforts to address safety deficiencies and drive change in the transportation system. 

The TSB issues safety recommendations as a call to industry and regulators to address systemic issues that pose significant risks to Canada’s transportation system. Each year, the TSB assesses progress on outstanding recommendations to prompt meaningful action on the safety issues identified in TSB investigations.

Of the 10 responses to rail transportation safety recommendations that the board assessed in 2024-25, one was closed as "fully satisfactory," according to a TSB press release. Once recommendations have been assessed as fully satisfactory, they are closed.

The fully satisfied recommendations in this latest assessment followed a TSB investigation into a 2017 incident involving a CN foreman who sustained fatal injuries while performing a switching operation at the railroad's Melville Yard in Saskatchewan. Out of that investigation, the TSB recommended that Transport Canada work with the railway industry and its labor leaders to identify the underlying causes of uncontrolled movements that occur while switching without air, and develop and implement strategies and/or regulatory requirements to reduce their frequency.

Since 2020, Transport Canada has advanced a series of safety actions to strengthen the defenses against uncontrolled movements while switching without air and there has been a corresponding overall decrease in the number of uncontrolled movements categorized as switching over this period, according to the TSB.

To review the TSB's latest assessment of responses to safety recommendations for the rail sector, click here.