CP Rail worker dies on job in Port Coquitlam
Credit to Author: Scott Brown| Date: Tue, 03 Dec 2019 21:03:18 +0000
Canadian Pacific Railway has confirmed that a train engineer died at its Port Coquitlam railyard on Monday night.
A CP spokesman says the company is investigating the accident but it is not releasing any details about what happened.
The employee’s name has not been released.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which represents 16,000 rail workers in Canada including 3,500 workers at CP, says the victim was a 56-year-old father with 32 years of service. The union says the circumstances surrounding the accident are unclear at this stage.
The B.C. Coroners Service says the man was from Mission.
“Our hearts go out to the locomotive engineer’s family and everyone who worked with him,” said Teamsters Canada Rail Conference president Lyndon Isaak. “The rail industry is in crisis. We have lost 10 of our sisters and brothers over the past 24 months. It’s 10 too many.”
The Transportation Safety Board is gathering information to determine if a formal investigation is required.
“We were notified last night, shortly before midnight,” said TSB spokesman Dean Campbell. “At this point, no one has been deployed to site and interviews are being conducted over the telephone.”
Coquitlam RCMP assisted in the incident but said the lead agency is the Canadian Pacific Police, which referred questions to Canadian Pacific.
“The company’s deepest sympathies go out to the employee’s family, friends and colleagues. CP is offering counselling to the family and our employees through our employee and family assistance program,” said CP spokesman Andy Cummings.
With a file from the Canadian Press