All language subtitles for Air.Disasters.S18E21.HeadOn.Collision.1080p.SMIT.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-maldini_track3_[eng]

[geese honking]

NARRATOR: An enormous
freight train

is out of control, tearing
through the Canadian Rockies.

The crew does nothing to slow
the train's terrifying speed.

Jack, are you there?

[ominous music]

NARRATOR: Charging
the other way,

a passenger train with more
than 100 people on board.

[train horn blaring]

[train clacking]

Front end, Jack, come in.

Oh, my god.

CONDUCTOR: Mayday, mayday.

We're doing 90 miles an
hour, out of control.

[train horn blaring]

[shrieking]

SHIP STEWARD: Take
a life jacket!

CAPTAIN: Where's
the Coast Guard?

SHIP STEWARD: Don't let go!

[electrical pop]

MAN: He's gonna crash!

[dramatic music]

[train horn blaring]

NARRATOR: It's one of the
most spectacular train rides

in the world.

Every year, thousands of
people take the slow route

through Canada's
Rocky Mountains.

Avoiding traffic,
they take the train

and leave the driving
to somebody else.

In late winter 1986, a
gentle trip to the Rockies

will end tragically.

[ominous music]

[screaming]

It was like a mini atom bomb.

And all of a sudden, it ignited.

Woof!

[screaming]

I'm gonna help you.

JAMES HEYD: I can hear the
women screaming, you know--

[somber music]

--to save her baby.

NARRATOR: An investigation
makes shocking discoveries about

the Canadian railroad industry.

At that time, I didn't
think that anything was wrong.

[ominous music]

NARRATOR: February 8, 1986.

Spectacular northern
lights dance

across the sky over Edson,
Alberta in Western Canada.

[train horn blaring]

[folk music]

NARRATOR: Driving freight trains
has been the lifelong ambition

of 48-year-old Canadian National
Railways engineer Jack Hudson.

But after 16 years on the job,
he knows all too well that it

can be a grueling career.

Because Canadian freight trains
travel such vast distances,

up to 12 local crews may
be used in the course

of one cross-country journey.

Hudson works a mountainous
stretch of track

through Alberta running
between his hometown of Jasper

and Edson to the east.

[instrumental music]

Like many trainmen, Hudson
works a regular beat,

driving the same
stretch of track,

then turning around again with
another train day after day.

At around 11 PM last night,
Hudson got off a freight train

from Jasper and spent the night
here in the company bunkhouse

at Edson.

Now he's up again, after just
3 and 1/2 hours of sleep,

to return to Jasper.

At the station, he's
joined by his brakeman.

Like Hudson, 25-year-old
Mark Edwards lives in Jasper.

And like Hudson, he
hasn't slept very much.

[sniffles]

Did you get some rest?

Not much.

Got a touch the flu.

Could use a full night's sleep.

[sniffles]

NARRATOR: Hudson and
Edwards will ride

up front in the first engine.

Hudson drives the
train, while Edwards

keeps his eye on the
brakes and pitches

in if Hudson needs any help.

Known to his fellow
railmen as Smitty,

33-year-old Wayne Smith
is Hudson's conductor.

He's the last of the three-man
crew in charge of the freight

train this morning.

Smitty.

NARRATOR: Smith
rides in the caboose,

the last car in the train.

He acts as an extra
set of eyes, making

sure the men in
the front end know

what's going on behind them.

The three are longtime
employees of Canadian National,

or CN, rail, and
all of them have

been up and down this length of
track countless times before.

[train bell rings]

The train they are
riding today is enormous.

CN Train 413 is more
than a mile long.

[brakes screeching]

Its cars are filled with grain,
metal pipes, and chemicals.

It tips the scales at
more than 12,000 tons.

As the freighter
rolls into Edson,

it slows but doesn't stop.

Getting it started
again would take time,

and the crew wants to get
home as soon as possible.

Hudson and Edwards take
the train on the fly,

boarding it as it rolls along.

According to CN Rail's code
of conduct, this is illegal,

but it's something
crews do routinely.

See you.

[door latch clunking]

All set.

Jack.

Clear signal leaving Edson.

[sniffles]

Clear signal leaving Edson.

[radio squelch]

NARRATOR: A key
part of Smith's job

is to stay in touch
with the front end

of the train to make
sure the crew stays

alert throughout the journey.

When the caboose pulls
alongside the platform,

Smith climbs aboard.

[melancholy music]

OK, he's got the brakes off.

You're good to go.

See you later.

NARRATOR: At 6:40 AM,
Hudson pushes the throttle.

The freight train picks up speed
as its 8,000 horsepower diesel

engines open up.

The CN freight train begins
the long haul west to Jasper.

The men are going home.

As 413 roars west, a
Via passenger train

speeds east on the same track.

[ominous music]

NARRATOR: Via Rail's Super
Continental passenger train No.

4 is heading to
Edmonton, Alberta.

[joyful music]

More than 100
passengers are enjoying

the spectacular scenery of
the rugged Canadian Rockies.

36-year-old Jamie Heyd
is an auto worker.

He's returning to
his home in Ontario

after a two-week visit
with family in Vancouver.

It's a very, very
small community

that you're in close
proximity with a lot of people

very, very suddenly,
and so there's

a lot of people we got to
meet and got to interact with.

I remember there was a
couple of ladies that we--

that we met over dinner.

One was-- was very,
very pregnant.

NARRATOR: While some
passengers are still sleeping,

Heyd goes into the
day coach to do

some reading before breakfast.

It's the fourth
car in the train.

JAMES HEYD: I remember
this, uh, this lady,

and she had a
little boy with her,

about three years
old or whatever.

He was quite in awe.

The little child was quite
in awe of the scenery.

So I sat down and that, and I
lifted the shade a little bit

so I could get some of
the daylight coming in,

and I started to
read a pocket novel.

[joyful music]

NARRATOR: Several
cars behind Heyd

is 61-year-old assistant
conductor Herbert Timpe.

An old hand on the
Canadian passenger line,

he's been riding this
route for seven years.

I had to be the
assistant conductor

and look after the
passengers on that train.

Next stop--

Hinton.

[train bell ringing]

NARRATOR: The passenger
train is pulling into Hinton.

The freight train is just
about to reach Hargwen

Station, 12 and 1/2 miles east.

Here, the rail line
becomes double tracked

so trains can pass each other.

413 will take the upper
track, while the passenger

train passes below it.

As Hudson approaches
the split in the tracks,

signal lights tell him
to slow the train down.

Smitty, we've got an Approach
Limited signal at Hargwen.

Next station-- Dalehurst.

Over?

Head end of 413 Approach
Limited at Hargwen.

Next station-- Dalehurst.

Out.

[melancholy music]

NARRATOR: These
are the last words

these men will ever exchange.

A dispatcher in
Edmonton sets a switch,

and 413 is routed
onto the upper track.

The Via passenger train arrives
at Hinton station at 8:20 AM.

As breakfast is served,
61-year-old Kenneth Cuttle

arrives in the dome car.

Cuttle served in the
war as a Royal Marine.

KENNETH CUTTLE: It was February.

I was going to Edmonton
to look for another job.

The train was
pretty comfortable,

you know, not many
people on board.

I said, let's go
up to the dome car,

because it was
just coming light,

and we see lots of
things of which you might

not get another chance to see.

We were in the foothills
of the Rocky Mountains.

NARRATOR: There are now
115 people on board,

but the train will never
make it to Edmonton,

and the passengers and crew
enjoying the early morning trip

will soon be fighting
for their lives.

NARRATOR: It's a clear, sunny
morning on board a passenger

train in Western Canada.

Breakfast is being
served as the train rolls

east to the Canadian Rockies.

A little over 9 miles away,
a 12,000 ton freight train,

CN 413, is rumbling toward it.

With diesel engines
running at full throttle,

it's pulling 115 rail cars of
grain and hazardous material.

From the outside,
everything looks normal.

What's going on inside
the lead engine of 413

is about to become one
of the greatest mysteries

in Canadian railroad history.

Freight trains and
passenger trains

often travel on the same track.

For short sections,
the tracks splits

so trains heading in opposite
directions can pass safely.

Today, 413 is on the
upper half of the loop.

Signals tell the freight train
to slow, then stop completely.

The signals will only turn green
again once the passenger train

has passed by safely below.

Then, the freight train
can rejoin the main line.

But 413 isn't slowing down.

It's heading downhill,
and it charges

through the warning lights.

If it doesn't stop
soon, it will return

to the main line at full
speed, straight into the path

of the passenger train.

Unaware that 413
is not stopping,

the passenger train
continues east.

[suspenseful music]

Up ahead, the freight train
thunders past the last set

of signals, ignoring three red
lights that command it to stop.

It slams back onto
the main line.

It's traveling 60 miles
an hour and weighs

more than 12,000 tons,
and it's not slowing down.

Herbert Timpe takes a break.

[exhales sharply]

NARRATOR: Ken Cuttle has a
clear view of the railway ahead.

KENNETH CUTTLE: I
got in a conversation

with an English guy.

And he had his
back to the front,

and I was looking
over his shoulder,

forward, the way
the train was going.

There was a flickering
light in the distance.

And not knowing
the track layout,

I thought, oh, they
must be another line,

and if it's another train, it's
going to go past us, you know.

[train clacking]

[mysterious music]

[quiet coughing]

[distant horn blaring]

Oh, my god.

[gasps] Oh, my god!

[horn growing closer]

And then, boom.

[train horn blaring]

[crashing]

[screeching]

NARRATOR: The trains
collide like two

charging rams at a combined
speed of 124 miles per hour.

[screeching]

Passengers are rocked
by one collision

after another, as 70 freight
cars slam into the wreckage.

Like an incoming
wave, grain cars,

long pipes three foot in
diameter, 30 feet in length.

You name it.

And these were flying
through the air like toys.

NARRATOR: Thrown forward by
the force of the collision,

one freight car flies
through the air,

then comes smashing
down on the Via train.

And the whole world
seemed to explode.

[glass shattering]

[shrieking]

It was like a mini atom bomb.

[screaming]

It was a big mushroom
of black smoke.

[somber music]

Then everything was dark.

I could no longer breathe
because everything

was filled with smoke.

[coughing]

Oh, I'm gonna die.

And the third
thing that happened

was I just resigned
myself to that.

HERBERT TIMPE: I've been
working about 37 years and--

on the railroad, and I never,
never seen anything so bad.

[ominous music]

[groaning]

[coughing]

KENNETH CUTTLE: The
wave of metal grain cars

stopped just where
the dome car was.

If it had gone
another 30 feet, it

would have covered us as well.

NARRATOR: More than a
mile behind the engine,

the caboose of Train 413
finally lurches to a stop.

Conductor Wayne Smith sees a
ball of fire in the distance,

but he has no idea how
bad the situation is.

[panting]

Frontend 413, I think we're
in the bush or we're derailed.

There is a big
explosion up here,

and we have chemicals on the
train, so stay away from it.

Stay away from the
dangerous goods!

[radio squelch]

NARRATOR: But all Smith gets
in reply is an ominous silence.

Passengers struggle to
escape the mangled wreck

as the smoke thickens.

I was trained well
in the Royal Marines

to survive and to
act spontaneously.

There was a window at
the back of the dome car,

and it was all
cracked, and I just

jumped up on the seat, smashed
my head through the glass roof.

I shouted come on let's get out!

[coughing]

NARRATOR: Cuttle and
others jump from the car.

And I look back, and all
of a sudden it ignited.

Woof!

[fire crackling]

(SOFTLY) Get up.

[coughing]

NARRATOR: Below,
in the lounge car,

more passengers also
managed to escape,

but others aren't so lucky.

Many are still trapped
in the burning cars,

including passenger Jamie Heyd.

JAMES HEYD: The roof of the
coach had been crunched down,

and I'd lost my glasses.

I couldn't see.

I couldn't breathe.

And here it was
the porter that had

been behind the snack bar had
opened up this-- this exit way.

And he had vamoosed
out through it,

and I took off
out behind it too.

[screaming]

[fire crackling]

[shouting]

PASSENGER: Please save us!

Snap out it.

JAMES HEYD: He was in shock.

Hey, snap out of it.

JAMES HEYD: Hey buddy,
pull it together here.

You know, there's
people in here,

and we got to do
something about it.

But--

[dramatic music]

NARRATOR: Half blind
without his glasses,

Heyd goes back inside
to try to help others.

PASSENGER: Help!

413 here dispatcher.

NARRATOR: Back in
the caboose, Smith

is talking to the
freight train's

dispatcher more than 170
miles away in Edmonton.

We've got to get
a doctor out here.

NARRATOR: Herb Timpe,
the assistant conductor

on the passenger train hears
the conversation and breaks in.

There's cars and passenger
coaches all over the ditch.

HERBERT TIMPE (ON RADIO):
[panting] And get an ambulance!

And there's a whole
bunch of cars on fire.

(FRANTICALLY) You
get that dispatcher?

DISPATCHER (ON RADIO): OK,
that's right on the switch

at Dalehurst, eh?

Yes, I'm gonna
walk up there and see

if I can be of any assistance.

DISPATCHER (ON RADIO): What
was the signal at Dalehurst

when your head in called it?

Uh, pardon me?

DISPATCHER (ON RADIO):
What was that signal

on that signal at Dalehurst?

[clears throat] W-- well, I
was calling him for the signal

at Dalehurst quite a few
times, but I kept calling him,

and there was no answer.

DISPATCHER (ON RADIO):
Well, it should

have been red on the panel.

Well, he must have ran it
then, dispatcher, because I

could not get a hold of him.

I tried, and I tried.

DISPATCHER (ON RADIO):
OK, all-- all right.

[panting]

[screaming]

PASSENGER: Help me!

Help!

NARRATOR: Back at
the passenger train,

Jamie Heyd tries to
save whomever he can.

Are you OK?

I'm gonna help you.

NARRATOR: Heyd can hear the
screams of men and women

trapped in the flames.

And I can hear the women

that I had

dinner with the night
before screaming.

You know, um,

to save her baby.

[somber music]

[coughing]

NARRATOR: Heyd was not able to
save the mother and her child.

They are out of
reach under debris.

That was, uh,
that was difficult.

[screaming]

KENNETH CUTTLE: People
who were trapped

and couldn't get out
screaming, screaming

like you've never heard.

Anybody in front of me
in that coach was dead.

For whatever the reasons,
it wasn't my time to go

then, for whatever the reasons.

[ominous music]

NARRATOR: Wayne
Smith is devastated.

He can't reach his two friends
at the front of the freight

train, and he can't understand
what happened to cause

such an enormous disaster.

NARRATOR: In Western
Canada, a freight train

is smashed head on
into a passenger train

carrying more than 100 people.

[screaming]

In the minutes
after the collision,

survivors are
dragging themselves

from the burning
wreckage, while others

are still trapped inside.

[fire crackling]

[sirens wailing]

Royal Canadian Mounted
Police Constable

Mark Linnell is one of the
first to arrive at the crash.

I was told that it was a train
derailment, not a train crash.

I mean, there's a double whammy.

KENNETH CUTTLE: The RCMP officer
came he could hardly speak.

His mouth dropped
open, and he said,

I can't believe
what I'm witnessing.

[somber music]

NARRATOR: It's a
horrifying scene.

Pictures taken shortly after the
crash show utter devastation.

I mean, I was
just flabbergasted.

I just couldn't believe it.

At that instant, that's
quite the thing to see.

[sirens wailing]

NARRATOR: The collision is 11
miles from the town of Hinton.

It takes emergency crews
some 45 minutes to arrive.

MARK LINNELL: I was in the
Marines in England for 14

years, and I'd seen a
lot a lot of disasters,

man-made disasters,
terrorist bombs,

and I thought I'd seen it all.

There was a lot of
blunt force trauma,

of course flying glass, burns.

And then I saw what appeared to
be two bodies in the restaurant

car hugging each
other, so we found out

later that was a man and wife.

And this was one
heck of a shock.

NARRATOR: As Linnell is
escorting survivors away

from the site, he sees
a lone man with a radio

coming down the track.

How's the, uh-- how's
the front end doing?

Uh--

What's your name?

WAYNE SMITH: It's-- it's--

NARRATOR: Smith
is about to learn

that his colleagues are dead.

Is everything OK?

Like, what happened?

Like, did they make
contact with the--

We're still under
an investigation,

and there's not a lot I
can tell you right now.

OK, so they still might be--

I mean--

I'm really sorry.

[gasps]

MARK LINNELL: He'd be
distraught and shaken,

and his train is wrecked,
and all these people dead.

[somber music]

NARRATOR: The Hinton
disaster is Canada's worst

railway accident in 35 years.

[helicopter whirring]

More than $30 million of
property is destroyed.

23 people are dead, and
71 others are injured.

Wayne Smith is the only
surviving crew member

of CN 413, the only man
who could explain how

a 12,000 ton freight
train plowed headfirst

into a passenger train.

His testimony could be
critical to unraveling

the cause of the disaster.

Two days after the collision,
the Alberta government

establishes an official
commission of inquiry,

and the honorable
justice René P.

Foisy leads the investigation.

Judge Foisy is a justice of
the Alberta Court of Appeal.

It was reasonably simple, I
mean, what caused the accident.

But it turned out to be a lot
more complicated than that

because there were
no easy answers

as to what caused the accident.

NARRATOR: Freight
and passenger trains

routinely use the same
tracks without incident.

What was different this time?

Over the next 11
months, Foisy calls

on 150 witnesses and specialists
to help him find out.

I think what has
most surprised me is

the-- the complex
procedures, the equipment,

the overall complexity that--

that we have to look at
in running a railroad,

and what goes on in
running a railroad.

[dramatic music]

NARRATOR: With conductor
Smith temporarily unavailable,

Foisy begins by studying
the signals that should have

told the freight train to stop.

If they weren't
working, the crew on 413

may not have thought
they needed to slow down.

CN did a very in-depth
test on the signal system,

and it was determined that
it was performing properly.

We went further.

We hired our own independent
experts to test the system.

[train horn honks]

NARRATOR: The
switches which operate

the signal lights were frozen
in position after the accident.

Electrical engineer Eugene
Kowch was hired to read them.

Perhaps a mechanical
fault in the system

had turned the signals
green, telling the freight

train to speed through.

A fault does not give
a positive green light

to any situation.

So if there was a fault in any
controls part of the system,

it would have forced everything
to go to red, which meant

the passenger train
would have stopped

and would have forced the
freight train to stop.

NARRATOR: If a mechanical
problem wasn't the cause,

there was a more
chilling possibility.

Perhaps someone set the signals
to green on purpose, causing

the two trains to collide.

Kowch dismisses that too.

To do that would
mean that somebody

would have to actually
go there and really

maliciously change things.

And there was no sign of any
tampering on any mechanisms.

Basically, our conclusion-- we
felt that the system was sound

and was safe.

NARRATOR: Foisy believes
the lights were red,

but the train continued anyway.

Perhaps another mechanical
fault was behind the crash.

Well I was calling him
for the signal at Dalehurst

quite a few--

NARRATOR: In his
statement after the crash,

conductor Wayne Smith told
Royal Canadian Mounted Police

officers that something
was wrong with his radio

that morning.

--get a hold of him.

I tried, and I tried.

NARRATOR: Maybe the engineer
at the front of the train

was having mechanical problems
but wasn't able to get

in contact with Smith.

Joseph Hebert examines the
portable radios the crew used.

The first test
was with the radio

that was on the train that
was in the accident at Hinton.

The radio performed
to specification.

NARRATOR: But even if the
radios themselves were working,

there could have
been another problem.

Do you know for a
fact that he was--

NARRATOR: Many CN
employees claim

there are places where radio
communication is impossible,

so-called dead spots.

And it's not a
dead spot that's

there 365 days out of the year.

NARRATOR: The possibility was
also examined and dismissed.

Sometimes you can't.

Some radios are stronger.

Some are weaker.

The second test done,
as far as communications

between the locomotive
and the caboose,

was done with the
same type of radio

as was used at the time
the accident took place.

[radio chatter]

The field test with
that type of radio

had satisfactory performance.

The evidence was,
uh, pretty clear,

and we concluded that
there were no dead spots.

[suspenseful music]

NARRATOR: One other possible
explanation is examined.

Natural phenomena like
the northern lights

can also affect
radio performance.

Um, I've got a measure
at Medicine Lodge.

JOSEPH HEBERT: Northern lights
can build up very high currents

and communications lines.

Anything even hooked up to
a radio could pick it up.

My determination of it was
that they were not a factor.

NARRATOR: If the
signals were red,

and the radios were working,
why had the train crashed?

OK, so just explain
to me how these--

NARRATOR: Foisy examines an
ingenious piece of technology,

the hot box detector.

Sitting beside
the track, hot box

detectors measure
the temperature

of a train's wheels and axles.

They also record the speed
of trains as they roar by.

When Foisy and his advisors
examine the hot box data,

they make a telling discovery.

When the front of
the freight train

passed the hot box detector
just after Hargwen,

it was traveling a little
over 37 miles an hour.

But by the time the caboose
passed the detector,

the train was going more
than 45 miles an hour.

Despite signals telling
it to slow down,

the train was speeding up.

For the last five miles,
we were able to determine

that the freight train was
going at least 59 miles an hour,

perhaps as high as 60 or 61.

There were no brake applications
before the crash as well.

NARRATOR: The crew let
the train travel too fast.

They did not obey
signals to stop,

and they never
applied the brakes.

It all points to a train
that was out of control.

Oh, my god!

[crashing]

NARRATOR: With mechanical
problems ruled out,

Foisy begins to look at the
crew of the freight train.

Perhaps there is something
about engineer Jack Hudson

who was in charge that could
explain what happened that day.

As Foisy he begins
sifting through Hudson's

medical records and
interviewing his family,

he makes a disturbing discovery.

[suspenseful music]

NARRATOR: A train
collision in Western Canada

has killed 23 people,
another 71 are injured.

The man leading the
inquiry into the disaster

has ruled out
mechanical problems.

Judge René Foisy now takes a
closer look at Jack Hudson,

the 16-year veteran who is
driving the freight train.

When Foisy and the commission
review Hudson's medical files,

they're shocked by
what they discover.

Mr. Hudson was a man
who-- who was sick.

He was an alcoholic.

He had high blood pressure,
which was problematic.

He had diabetes.

He had a pancreatic attack the
summer before this accident.

He had to wear a colostomy
for a number of months.

NARRATOR: Foisy wonders if
this long list of illnesses

could somehow have
led to the crash.

DERRICK POUNDER: The
engineer, Jack Hudson,

had been killed outright in the
crash and had severe injuries,

so we couldn't determine whether
there'd been a catastrophic

medical event-- whether
he'd had a heart attack,

for example, or a stroke--

which had incapacitated him.

But we were able
to do toxicology,

and there was no alcohol
or drugs present.

NARRATOR: If Hudson did
have a stroke or heart

attack at the controls,
why didn't his brakeman,

Mark Edwards, take any action?

Investigators come up
with one plausible answer.

[sniffles]

Did you get some rest?

Not much.

Got a touch of the flu.

Could use a full night's sleep.

[sniffles]

NARRATOR: Perhaps Edwards
had been asleep on the job.

Dr. Alison Smiley is an
expert on sleep and fatigue.

Jack Hudson, he had had, at
the very most, before he went

on duty that day, 3
and 1/2 hours of sleep,

and that is if he slept from
the last moment somebody

saw him until the
moment somebody next

saw him again, 3 and 1/2 hours.

Brakeman said he had
a touch of the flu,

and he'd had five hours
sleep the night before.

Wayne Smith, similarly, had had
insufficient sleep, about five

hours, before the collision.

NARRATOR: As the freight
train passed the signals

telling it to stop, the entire
crew may have been fast asleep.

You could work at
any time of the day.

So one day, you might start
at 4:00 in the morning.

The next day, you start
at 2:00 in the afternoon.

Their hours were so erratic.

They were continually
in a jet lag state

because their
physiology was never

sort of fully adjusted to
any particular working hours.

NARRATOR: To stay
alert, train engineers

face many challenges, including
long rides up and down

the same stretch of track.

The tracks going by
one after the other,

it's a very soporific
situation to work

in and easy to
see how somebody--

no matter how motivated--

could fall asleep.

NARRATOR: At the time, trains
were equipped with safety

devices that would
automatically stop a train

if the engine man
died or fell asleep

the so-called "deadman's pedal."

Basically, the engineer
is supposed to keep his foot

on the pedal, and while he's--

his foot is on the pedal,
the train won't stop.

If that pedal isn't
depressed, then it

will, after a number of
seconds, give a warning,

which is quite audible.

And if nothing happens then,
it will stop the train.

NARRATOR: But Foisy discovers
that for many train men,

disabling the dead man's
pedal was standard practice.

One of the excuses that
was given by the engineers

is that, to go long
distances, having

to keep your foot on that
pedal was very uncomfortable.

And so that they would
sometimes put something

on the pedal-- a lunchbox,
or something heavy enough

to keep it depressed-- so that
they could stretch their legs.

Unfortunately,
what was happening,

this pedal was being depressed
for long, long periods of time.

NARRATOR: But even if Hudson
and Edwards had fallen asleep

at the front of the train,
and the dead man's pedal was

rigged, conductor
Wayne Smith at the back

could still have
prevented the disaster.

Almost two months into the Foisy
inquiry, Smith takes the stand.

Doctors kept him from
testifying sooner,

saying he was too
traumatized by the accident.

Now, for the first
time, investigators

hear Smith reconstruct
events on the freight

train in the moments
leading up to the disaster.

I was sitting, looking
out the back of the train

from my desk when we
passed mile board 169.

That's the, uh-- that's the
landmark that I use to initiate

a call to the engineer to
ask for the display at the

Dalehurst approach signal.

Head end of 413, what indication
do you have at the Dalehurst

approach signal 1703?

Over.

NARRATOR: The front end of the
train is supposed to respond,

letting Smith know they've
seen the signal lights

telling them to slow down.

Head of 413, can you hear me?

Over.

I-- I probably called
them three or four times.

I, uh, I didn't get a
response on my gray radio.

There was, uh, there was
something wrong with it.

What's the indication
at signal 1703?

Over.

[suspenseful music]

NARRATOR: It's a surprising
piece of testimony.

Foisy already knows the
radios were working fine.

When Smith is asked
how fast he thought

the train was going
before the collision,

Foisy gets another surprise.

[clears throat] I felt the
front end give a light brake

application on the caboose.

Coming around the
curve, I felt we

were doing a track speed of
about 50 miles an hour or less.

NARRATOR: But according
to the hot box detectors,

the train was traveling 10
miles an hour over track speed,

and no one applied the brakes.

WAYNE SMITH: I went
to my red radio,

and I tried to get a
hold of them on it.

Jack, how does the Dalehurst
approach signal 1703?

I was calling them on channel
1 three or four times,

and there was no answer, so
I tried to get a hold of them

on different channels.

NARRATOR: Once again, Smith's
testimony doesn't add up.

Foisy has heard
from other trainmen

who were monitoring their
radios in the area that day.

No one heard Smith call.

Smith says he was still
trying to contact Hudson when

the end of the train
raced past signals

telling it to slow down.

Jack!

NARRATOR: As an
experienced trainman,

Smith knows that the
next set of lights

will likely be a triple red,
telling the train to stop.

He was getting no answer, and
the train wasn't slowing down.

An emergency brake cord
was within easy reach,

but Smith never pulled it.

At that time, I didn't
think that anything was wrong.

That's the point I make,
Mr. Smith, that when there is

a problem with the radio, you've
been trained over the years

to observe the signals.

And it would have been the
last thing I would have done.

RENE FOISY: He didn't
pull the brake.

He didn't pull the air
because he felt that it

hadn't reached that point.

Basically, that
was his evidence.

And I had a lot of difficulty
with that because if--

if it, uh-- if that point
hadn't been reached,

when was it going to
be reached, if ever?

NARRATOR: Smith's contradictory
testimony is complete.

Judge Foisy is now
ready to close his case

and lay the blame on those
responsible for the disaster.

[chatter]

NARRATOR: The inquiry into
one of Canada's deadliest

train crashes is complete.

23 people were
killed when a freight

train crashed head
on into a passenger

train near Hinton, Alberta.

Chief investigator
Renee Foisy has

explored every angle from
technical malfunction

to human error.

He is now ready to
deliver his verdict

on what went wrong that day.

In his 205 page report,
Foisy parcels out the blame,

naming all the key offenders.

[dramatic music]

Foisy writes that the train's
engineer, Jack Hudson,

failed to observe and
obey signals commanding

him to stop his train.

If Hudson was unable
to do his job,

brakeman Marc Edwards
failed to intervene.

He also ignored
the light signals

and didn't stop the train before
it entered the single track.

Conductor Wayne
Smith is guilty too.

He had failed to
follow operating rules

and pull the
emergency brake when

he couldn't contact the two
men at the front of the train.

[train chugging]

In his statement to police,
he had even suggested that he

thought they were sleeping.

It said that my
head end was asleep.

LAWYER: Do you recall
making that response, sir?

Yes, I do.

NARRATOR: With so
many contradictions

in his testimony, Foisy
rules that the conductor's

evidence is unreliable.

I wasn't sure what had--

what had happened.

And I went to my back desk.

I jumped on from the
cupola and ran for--

it seemed like we were
just keeping going.

There was no immediate stopping.

The caboose kept sliding.

NARRATOR: Instead, Foisy
emphasizes that Smith--

like Edwards and Hudson--

was dangerously
tired that morning.

I just wanted to-- get
home, actually, at the time.

[dramatic music]

NARRATOR: The crew
aren't the only ones

Foisy blames for the accident.

According to his
report, Jack Hudson

may have well had
a stroke or heart

attack before the
collision, but CN

management had
known about Hudson's

medical condition for years.

He managed to accumulate, I
think it was 40 or 50 demerits,

and at 60, you're fired.

But after he got to
that level, there

were some other infractions
which weren't recorded.

NARRATOR: Foisy also calls
attention to the rules that

were routinely ignored, such
as rigging the dead man's pedal

and taking the train on the fly.

[train bell ringing]

RENE FOISY: There is a
lesson to be learned here.

It's that when you have
rules, you obey the rules,

and you enforce the rules.

If it becomes too
much of a fraternity

and of a buddy-buddy system, it
gets lax, and problems occur.

And this tragedy
was one of them.

NARRATOR: Foisy demands that CN
improve its safety equipment,

recommending that all trains
be equipped with reset safety

control technology.

[rapid beeping]

These systems are much
more sophisticated

than a dead man's pedal.

If an operator fails to
pay constant attention,

alarms sound, and the train
eventually shuts down.

The equipment has proved
valuable several times

since the disaster.

[sustained beeping]

ALISON SMILEY: There was a
study done with CN 10 years

after this accident.

They found something like
90% of the train engineers

saying that they had been woken
by the alerting device at least

once.

NARRATOR: In response
to Foisy's report,

CN Rail creates one of the
most sophisticated fatigue

countermeasures
programs in the world.

Trainmen are no longer on
call seven days a week,

24 hours a day.

Napping is no
longer frowned upon.

Rest houses have been
improved and locomotive

cabs made more comfortable.

[somber music]

For the victims of the disaster,
changes to Canadian railroading

came too late.

I still remember
the people that

were killed in the
accident and good friends I

had on the railroad.

And that really--
it does bother me.

Too much of a tragedy
to think about luck.

Had too much--
there's too much hurt

that happened inside of me.

It took me quite a
while to rebuild my--

my sanity again.

I got over it fairly quickly
and got on with their life.

There may be lots of other
people who weren't as lucky.

JAMES HEYD: You can be
going along in life,

and then something can come
along and just kind of destroy

your very foundation, or shatter
your very foundation, and

through no fault of your own.

But life has a
habit of doing that.

But the other thing
I can share with them

is that you can recover from it.

There is a tomorrow.

[hopeful music]