A collision between a Via Rail train and a double-decker bus in south Ottawa has causes multiple deaths, firefighters say.

The OC Transpo bus was travelling north on the Transitway, and Train 51 en route to Toronto was heading west when the collision occurred.

Firefighters say the crash happened at 8:48 a.m. ET near the intersection of Woodroffe Avenue and Fallowfield Road.

The front end of the bus suffered significant damage, firefighters added.

All of Ottawa's first responders are on their way to the crash, CBC News has learned.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa...aths-1.1858868

Seems to be some debate as to whether it was an accident or deliberate.

Seems like the driver just drove through the barrier, with passengers shouting to him to stop, perhaps he had a heart attack?

Very probably something along those lines.

Hopefully its just an unfortunate accident and not intentional on the drivers part.

So sad. Such a tragic loss of 6 lives. It makes no sense to speculate, it could have been many reasons and I am sure they will find out why this happened.

From news reports today, it seems that brake failure may well have been the cause. Eye witnesses are suggesting he was desperately trying to stop the thing.

The drivers wife was on the radio this am, he had no medical issues and he was 46 years old. He sounded like a professional driver who liked his job, he had no drink or drug issues. As above, Brake fail would be the most obvious cause of this Awefull incident.

The crossing signals and arm are reported to have engaged 47 seconds before impact and in their fully down position 25 seconds before impact.

The train did not blow their whistle in advance of the crossing due to a local by-law banning whistling from 8pm to 12 noon.

Trains bells were activated.

Trains e-brake was engaged 2 seconds before impact.

Train was travelling 75km/h max speed for that location is 161km/h.

Attention of investigators will now focus on the bus, and driver.

TSB says there will be no further updates, but investigation will continue.

Source: CBC

I do remember OC Transpo being slagged off in the local press for their rather slipshod maintenance when I lived there. Even thought it was a good idea to not bother with snow tyres on buses at one point if I recall correctly. Ottawa being a light snow region and all that...