On February 8, 1986, the Hinton train collision killed 23 people when a CN freight train slammed head-on into a VIA Rail passenger train in Alberta, Canada. Every signal worked. Every brake functioned. Nothing mechanical failed. So why did nobody stop?
In this documentary, we break down exactly what happened on that stretch of Canadian National mainline near Hinton, Alberta — from the approach signal the freight crew ignored at 59 mph, to the absolute stop they blew through at Dalehurst, to the 108 mph head-on collision with the Super Continental passenger service. We cover the 56-day Foisy Commission inquiry, the "railroader culture" at CN that prioritized productivity over safety, the dead man's pedal that crews routinely defeated, and why engineer Jack Hudson had only 3.5 hours of sleep before taking the controls of a 6,000-foot freight train hauling hazardous materials through the Rocky Mountains.
The Hinton train disaster was Canada's worst rail accident since 1947 and led directly to mandatory rest orders, upgraded safety systems, and the push for positive train control across Canadian railroads.
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