[Redliner]

This is truly a tragedy. As someone who works for a major rail carrier, my heart goes out to everyone involved.

To suggest that passenger rail is dangerous and should be discontinued is asinine. (my apologies if the statement was sarcastic, but sadly there will be those knee-jerkers out there who would honestly believe it was the right solution) Passenger rail is the most energy-efficient mode of transportation by a wide margin, (30-40%) and is far safer than either automobile or bus transport. The safety record of passenger rail is comparable to that of commercial airlines; both are in the range of 0.02-0.03 deaths per million passenger miles.

Initial speculation is that this train derailed on a switch as it was changing tracks. Hopefully the TSB investigation will determine the cause conclusively so it can be prevented from happening again in the future.