Ottawa Orders CN Rail to Remove 12,000 Wheels

(The Canadian Press/AFP)

The federal government has ordered CN Rail to find and remove potentially faulty wheels from its trains.

The emergency safety directive from Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon comes after the Transportation Safety Board warned thousands of wheel sets could cause derailments. Since 2000, 15 derailments due to loose wheels have been reported in Canada, and at least two in the United States, Canada’s TSB said.

The potentially faulty wheel sets were assembled at a Canadian National’s Transcona wheel shop between April 1, 1998, and February 28, 2001. Of the 43,000 sets made in that period, up to 12,000 may remain in service in North America on some Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian National Railway and U.S. freight cars.

The Transport Department says the October 15 deadline gives CN the time needed to track all the wheels on train cars throughout Canada. In issuing the order, Cannon said he wants to prevent any future derailments related to faulty wheels.