Metrolinx report pulls back curtain on what led to GO train derailment outside Union Station - Toronto Star

Visual inspections, maintenance issues led to poor track conditions near Union Station where a GO train derailed and caused chaos across the GO network.

A Kitchener-line GO train derailed on the tracks as it left Union Station in February, leading to chaos at the station and widespread delays across the GO network for days.

Inadequate visual inspections and track maintenance contributed to the derailment of a GO train outside of Union Station in February, a new report from Metrolinx has found — an incident that led to widespread delays across the regional network for days.

A followup investigation by the provincial transit agency and its private maintenance contractor also found 40 other track defects in the surrounding area, the report noted.

Much of the report builds upon what the agency initially reported in the aftermath of the February derailment: 18 screws were missing from a segment of track, leading to heavy wear on the existing screws until they broke. The track shifted by 1.125 inches and the wheel of one of the cars on the Kitchener line train fell off the tracks as it left Union Station. The train’s derailment led to chaos at the station.