(Adds comments from Transport Canada and Canadian Pacific)
By Allison Martell
TORONTO, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Canada's transport regulator
has ordered Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd CP.TO to address a
new alleged safety violation after it found the company was not
carrying out a mandatory brake safety test on some of its trains
in Western Canada, according to a letter obtained by Reuters.
An inspector from Transport Canada told the company in the
Sept. 3 letter that it had confirmed CP was not doing a required
emergency brake test on trains originating in Moose Jaw, a town
in the Canadian prairie province of Saskatchewan.
"This information has been confirmed by conversations with
Moose Jaw mechanical supervisors and staff that this is the
current process," the inspector wrote in the letter.
The test checks whether brakes are applied on the last car
of a train when emergency brakes are activated from the
locomotive controlling the train, the letter said.
Transport Canada said in a statement that it could take
further action if it observes continued non-compliance or if it
is dissatisfied with the company's response.
A spokesman for the railway said in a statement that it was
reviewing the letter.
CP was investigated in June for allegedly failing to apply
adequate brakes when parking a train carrying oil on a mountain
slope in British Columbia.
Emergency brakes and railway safety have been areas of
special concern since July 2013 when a runaway train crashed,
killing 47 people and destroying buildings in the Quebec town of
Lac-Megantic. That train was operated by the Montreal, Maine &
Atlantic Canada Railway Ltd and its affiliate.
In an internal newsletter on Thursday, the union
representing CP's rail car mechanics said it told the regulator
about the latest issue after the company instructed workers to
stop doing the emergency brake test on the last car of trains
from Moose Jaw.
The regulator asked CP in its Sept. 3 letter to provide
details of action to correct the alleged violation of Canada's
Railway Safety Act within 14 days.
(Writing by Mike De Souza in Calgary; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
and Simon Cameron-Moore)