A new report is renewing calls for stronger rail safety measures after more than 400 GO Transit passengers narrowly avoided a catastrophic train collision in Burlington, Ont., in 2024.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s investigation found that a GO Transit commuter train passed a stop signal after departing Aldershot station on March 14, 2024, and entered a track occupied by another GO train travelling in the opposite direction.

Both train crews were able to stop their trains, avoiding a collision by about 549 feet.

“In this occurrence, a catastrophic collision involving 400 passengers was narrowly averted,” Transportation Safety Board chair Yoan Marier said in a news release.

The investigation found the crew departing Aldershot station expected the opposing train to have already passed and believed the signal would be permissive.

During departure preparations, the conductor was focused on a tablet while the locomotive engineer was dealing with equipment issues inside the cab, the report said.

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As a result, neither crew member observed the stop signal.

The occurrence happened roughly 2 km from the site of a fatal 2012 VIA Rail derailment in Burlington that killed three crew members and injured a dozen passengers.

Missed signal indications were also a factor in that accident, according to TSB.

Since 2023, the TSB has investigated eight separate rail collisions or near-collisions involving crews failing to follow signal indications.

“For more than 25 years, we have been calling on industry and regulators to of physical fail-safe train control systems and put strong interim measures in place while these systems are being developed and installed,” the board said in the release.

Physical fail-safe systems, such as positive train control (PTC), automatically slow or stop a train when crews do not respond to signals.

PTC has been fully implemented on high-hazard rail routes in the United States since 2020, including routes operated by Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railway.

Its most recent recommendation, issued in 2022, called on Transport Canada to accelerate the rollout of physical train control protections on high-speed corridors and key rail routes.

While Transport Canada has pointed to progress, including proposed regulations expected in 2026 or 2027, the TSB said meaningful risk reduction is unlikely before 2030 and continues to rate the federal response as “unsatisfactory.”

“Until additional backup safety defences are in place, the risk of accidents resulting from crews not following signal indications will continue,” the release said.

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