The first court appearance was adjourned for Canadian Pacific Railway and two employees charged with leaving a train unattended without brakes applied near Revelstoke.
CPR, Mark Jackson and Tim McLelland were scheduled to appear in Revelstoke court last Wednesday, Feb. 1, but the appearance was adjourned beforehand until April 5.
The accused are expected to enter a plea on that date.
The three are charged with two counts of violating the Railway Safety Act. According to the court documents obtained by the Review, the first charge is for not applying sufficient handbrakes to railway equipment, and the second charge is for not applying additional physical securement measures or mechanisms.
The charges are in connection with an incident where a train carrying dangerous goods was allegedly ordered to be parked without brakes at the Greeley siding 10 kilometres east, and uphill, of Revelstoke on the night of Feb. 15, 2015, when train crews were about to go on strike.
The incident raised the spectre of a repeat of the Lac Megantic incident, when a train left unattended rolled out of control into the heart of a small Quebec town and exploded, killing 47 people on July 6, 2013.
Following Lac Megantic, Transport Canada issued an emergency directive that required all rail companies to ensure handbrakes were properly applied on any trains left unattended for more than one hour.
