St-Hilaire train disaster

When railway accident on the bridge in Beloeil Quebec overlooked the train driver on June 29, 1864, signal that should the Beloeil Bridge, a swing bridge over the Rivière Richelieu secure. At least 99 dead and over 100 injured were the result. This is still the most serious railway accident in Canada.

Conditions

The railway line of the Grand Trunk Railway from Montreal to Quebec crossed on the Beloeil Bridge near the present-day Mont -Saint -Hilaire the Rivière Richelieu, who was then an important waterway was here about three feet deep and freight between New York and Montreal. Railway side was at a distance of about 1600 meters, a signal which should secure the bridge. In addition, the requirement that trains were to stop in front of a swing bridge and the locomotive crews had to convince them that the bridge could be driven was. The engineer was new on the track.

The accident

The train was filled with 350-475 passengers, it also numerous immigrants from Germany and Poland. He approached the accident against 1:20 clock the open vessel traffic Swing Bridge. The locomotive crews ignored the "red" displayed, the bridge -locking signal and drove without stopping on. The bridge was opened to ship traffic in order to pass five barges and a steamer. So rushed locomotive and eleven cars one by one in the river, first on a barge, which they sank, and then another, so that piled up the wreckage of the vehicles.

Conclusions

The blame for the accident was given to the drivers and the drivers, as they had not paid attention to the signal. The engineer appealed to lack of track knowledge.