3 crewmembers dead in VIA Rail derailment

BURLINGTON, Ont. – Three Canada VIA Rail crew members riding in the lone locomotive of a five-car passenger train died in a derailment here Feb. 26.

More than 40 passengers and another crew member were injured, many seriously. News reports indicate the fourth crewmember suffered minor injuries.

Burlington, on a shoreline of Lake Ontario, is some 40 miles southwest of Toronto and some 70 miles northwest of Buffalo. The passenger train was enroute to Toronto from Niagara Falls.

The VIA Rail train was operating over tracks of Canadian National.

The locomotive, with the three crew members in the cab, reportedly slid violently into a building alongside the tracks. The dead crew members were identified as Ken Simmonds, 56, and Peter Snarr, 52, both of Toronto, and Patrick Robinson, 40, of Cornwall.

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board was dispatched to begin an investigation as to the cause of the deadly derailment.