Hinton train collision
| Date | February 8, 1986 |
|---|---|
| Time | 8:40 am |
| Location | Dalehurst, Alberta |
| Country | Canada |
| Operator | Canadian National Railway |
| Type of incident | Collision |
| Cause | Locomotive engineer fatigue Conductor error |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 2 |
| Deaths | 23 |
| Injuries | 71 |
Coordinates: 53°29′47″N 117°22′11″W / 53.49645°N 117.3697°W
The Hinton train collision was a railway accident that occurred on February 8, 1986. Twenty-three people were killed in a collision between a Canadian National Railway freight train and a Via Rail passenger train. It was the deadliest Canadian rail disaster since the Dugald accident of 1947 which killed thirty-one people, and would not be surpassed until the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster in 2013 which killed forty-seven. It was surmised that the accident was a result of the crew of the freight train becoming incapacitated, and the resulting investigations revealed serious flaws in CN's employee practices.
The accident took place on a stretch of Canadian National Railway's transcontinental main line west of Edmonton, near the town of Hinton, Alberta. Nearby towns are Jasper to the west and Edson to the east. Passenger service on the line was provided by Via Rail Canada. Slightly over half of the 100-mile (160 km) stretch of track between Jasper and Edson was double-tracked, including 11.2 miles (18.0 km) of trackage from Hargwen control point west to Dalehurst control point. Traffic on this line was controlled with Centralized Traffic Control (CTC).
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