Fire damage to a Lytton rail bridge (Image Credit: CFJC Today / Adam Donnelly)

By James Peters

Lytton Fire

CP Rail claims no issues with Lytton train, blasts TSB chair comments as ‘irresponsible’

Jul 16, 2021 | 2:26 PM

LYTTON, B.C. — CP Rail says preliminary investigations of the last train believed to have passed through Lytton before the village was destroyed by fire revealed no issues with the train.

Two people were killed and the vast majority of Lytton’s structures were left in ashes after fire ripped through the village late on the afternoon of June 30. For three consecutive days prior to the fire, Lytton had set Canadian high temperature records.

In a news release responding to the Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into potential train-related activity causing the fire, CP said any speculation on the cause would be premature. It notes TSB Chair Kathy Fox has indicated the investigation may take as long as two years.

Fox said the fire was “a wake-up call” to the fire dangers presented by rail transport and precautions that must be taken to prevent fires in hot and dry conditions.

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In response CP Rail blasts Fox as “irresponsible and misleading” for implying “that railways are to blame for the fire.”

The company says it has inspected the last train that passed through the Ashcroft CN subdivision prior to the blaze — known as CN 731L but using CP cars and locomotives — as well as all other CP trains that passed through Lytton prior to ignition. It says it has found nothing to indicate the trains caused or contributed to the fire.

CP also notes Transport Canada inspected the same train on July 6, confirming to CP that there were “no non-compliance or concerns.”

The company contends trains are not a significant cause of wildfires in B.C. “contrary to media and government speculation.”

Read the full release.