A black box, a device recording train activity, has been recovered from the wreckage of a fatal VIA train derailment in Burlington, Ontario on Sunday afternoon.

A passenger VIA Rail train, similar to the one seen here, derailed Sunday afternoon. Three VIA Rail employees were killed. PHOTO COURTESY: Flickr user Bobolink

The device should contain useful information on why the accident happened, says Transport Action Canada President David Jeanes.

“They’ll be able to find out things like how fast the train was going, if there were any malfunctions recorded before the accident,” Jeanes told @humber radio..

The train, en route from Niagara Falls to Toronto, was crossing tracks prior to the derailment.

“It normally doesn’t [lead to derailment],” said Jeanes. “After leaving Aldershot station, it needed to change over from the central track to the south side track, which is the track it was going to use heading towards Toronto.”

Switches in the track allow trains to crossover. The Transportation Safety Board confirmed the train had crossed the switch before the derailment.

“The trains go through those crossovers everyday. Those crossovers would be used by many trains everyday, and normally they’re completely safe,” said Jeanes.

Three VIA Rail employees in the cab of the locomotive were killed.  Ken Simmonds, 56, and Peter Snarr, 52, had been with the company for over 30 years. Patrick Robinson, 40, was training as part of a familiarization program.

Three passengers were airlifted to hospital while 29 others suffered minor injuries.

Here is an interactive guide to some of Canada’s most notable train accidents with casualties since 1947.

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