Ottawa bus-train crash

Ottawa Bus-Train Crash
The scene of the crash after the collision. The train, as well as Fallowfield train station, can be seen in the background. Photo taken along the tracks looking west.
Details
Date	18 September 2013
Location	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates	45°18′10″N 75°44′03″W / 45.302818°N 75.734054°W / 45.302818; -75.734054Coordinates: 45°18′10″N 75°44′03″W / 45.302818°N 75.734054°W / 45.302818; -75.734054
Statistics
Deaths	6
Injuries	35

The Ottawa bus-train crash was a collision that occurred between a OC Transpo double-decker bus and a Via Rail train in the Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven on September 18, 2013, that killed six people.

The collision happened between a route 76 OC Transpo Alexander Dennis Enviro500 double-decker bus (identification number 8017) and Via Rail Train 51 (pulled by General Electric P42 Genesis locomotive number 915), headed for Toronto, at 8:48AM.

It occurred at a rail crossing near Fallowfield Road and Woodroffe Avenue on the Transitway, the city's dedicated road for buses. The train had departed from Ottawa Train Station at 8:32AM and the bus had just departed from Fallowfield Transitway Station. The bus had a total of eighty-three people aboard. The level crossing's crossing gates, lights, and bells engaged 47 seconds before the crash, and its gates were fully horizontal across the road 25 seconds before the crash. The train did not sound its whistle due to a municipal ban on train whistles being used between the times of 8:00PM and 12:00 noon. However, the train's bell was activated. The train was travelling at 75 kilometres per hour (47 mph), in an area where the speed limit is 161 kilometres per hour (100 mph), at the time of the collision and had engaged its emergency brakes 2 seconds prior. The bus was travelling at 67.6 kilometres per hour, in a zone where the speed limit was 60 kilometres per hour, before the brakes were applied. The bus' brakes were applied 3 seconds before the crash, though the full force of the brakes was not initially applied. The collision sheared off the front end of the bus and derailed the train.

Five people were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, including the bus driver, and one later died in hospital. A further thirty-five people were injured on the bus (five with serious injuries and thirty with minor injuries). None of the train's passengers or crew members were injured.