Canada's Transportation Safety Board (TSB) has warned that faulty railway cars may be in operation, hauling dangerous goods across the nation's railroads.
The TSB released a report regarding a 2009 accident near Dugald, Manitoba, in which a tank car loaded with liquid propylene separated from the train before coming to a stop due to an undetected faulty stub sill, which connected the tank cars.
The report says that while the train didn't derail, the lack of formal protocols to record and report stub sill failures may prevent other broken parts from being found before the next accident.
Almost 41,000 cars in North America's tank car fleet are equipped with faulty stub sills, with 35,000 of those in goods service.
The report also noted that trains are longer and heavier than the older design criteria, making them more difficult to control.
