CN tankers derail, force evacuations
(The following story by Chris Kitching appeared on the Winnipeg Sun website on January 13.)
WINNIPEG -- Several Fort Garry homes and businesses were evacuated yesterday following the derailment of a CN Rail freight train carrying hazardous materials.
No one was injured when 10 CN cars went off the track about 11:30 a.m. at a crossing near the corner of Pembina Highway and Kirkbridge Drive, a spokesman for the railway said. Some of the cars overturned during the crash, but only one spilled its load of calcium chloride, which isn't dangerous and is used as road salt, CN Rail's Jim Feeny said.
'EVERYBODY WAS YELLING'
The other tankers -- hauling liquid propane gas, fertilizer and scrap metal -- weren't punctured, he said.
Investigators don't know why the cars jumped the track or how much cleaning up the derailment will cost, Feeny said. The cleanup was expected to last several hours.
Customers inside Smitty's Family Restaurant & Lounge were horrified to see the cars slide off the track, restaurant manager Tammy Taillieu said.
"All of a sudden everybody was yelling and freaking out a little bit," said Taillieu, who didn't witness the wreck. "Everybody started running to the back to watch. They were talking about a piece of the track coming off."
About 30 customers and eight employees were ordered out by emergency officials who feared a toxic spill, Taillieu said.
A few other businesses in the 2800 block of Pembina Highway, including Bairdmore Daycare Centre, were also evacuated.
About 38 kids from the centre waited in a Winnipeg Transit bus before they were taken to nearby Acadia School, a day-care employee said between calls to parents.
People were evacuated from 10 homes near the track, and it wasn't known when they'd be able to return, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service spokesman Robin Alford said.
The southbound train was pulling 41 cars at no more than 40 km/h, the track's speed limit and was on its way to Emerson, Feeny said.
Rail traffic on that line, which sees only a few trains each day, was re-routed, he said.
Yesterday's wreck happened a few blocks south of the site of a car-train accident last week near Bairdmore Boulevard. A woman was sent to hospital in critical condition following that crash.
In April 2002, eight CN Rail boxcars jumped the tracks near homes in St. Boniface.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
