The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has released its investigation report for a train derailment near Bassano in 2022.
The crash happened on July 13 as a Canadian Pacific (CP) train with 41 hopper cars derailed. Thirty-nine of the derailed cars were broken, spilling grain.
No injuries were reported in the derailment.
According to TSB, the investigation determined that the track structure near the derailment deteriorated, which caused the tracks to buckle.
"Although work was done to mitigate the risk up to three years before the occurrence, persistent compressive forces in the rail had since built up," wrote TSB.
"The elevated compressive forces in the track, along with the dynamic forces from the moving train, reduced the track’s lateral resistance and caused the track to shift out of alignment and buckle, leading to the derailment."
It was also determined that inspection data did not indicate that the track was starting to deteriorate, and there was no evidence that CP applied its safety management system (SMS) on the tracks.
"Without proactive risk management of railway operations, including risk assessments, company SMS practices will remain ineffective at reducing main-track train derailments."
Following the crash, CP began track renewal work and changed its railway maintenance procedures.
Bassano is around 90 kilometres away from Strathmore.