C2

By Madeleine Leclerc

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Speak Up

More than year after a train derailment led to the closure of the former Trans Canada Highway, between St. André and St. Leonard, as well as the evacuation of many nearby homes, its cause remains under investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

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Approximately 55 cars of a 137-car CN freight train derailed along a stretch of track bordering the St. John River at 4:20 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, 2007. It was the largest train derailment in northwestern New Brunswick in recent memory.

Following many 911 calls made from residents and the CN crew, firefighters from the St. Leonard and St. André fire departments responded quickly to the scene. Sparks created by the derailment had set the surrounding brush on fire. Firefighters were assisted at the scene by members of the Grand Falls and Van Buren, Maine fire departments.

The fires were quickly extinguished and work began to determine the extent of the damage as well as secure the scene. Authorities also needed to determine whether some of the derailed cars were carrying any dangerous materials and if any of these were leaking.

Two of the derailed cars were carrying liquefied petroleum gas, while another tank car carried a mineral oil product and two empty tank cars contained residue of muriatic or hydrochloric acid.

There were no injuries in the wake of the derailment.

In addition to closing off a section of Highway 144 to any traffic except emergency vehicles and equipment needed for the clean-up effort, part of Route 1A located on the other side of the St. John River, linking Hamlin to Van Buren, was also closed to traffic for a short while and homeowners were also evacuated following the derailment.

The CN freight train, with 62 loaded cars and 71 empty cars, originated in Toronto and was destined for Dartmouth, NS. Although no car derailed into the nearby St. John River, a boom was placed at the water's edge as an added precaution to the environment.

Efforts coordinated

The Fredericton-Oromocto Hazardous Materials response team was summoned to the scene as efforts continued to secure the perimeter. Other CN crews, as well as CN Police, the RCMP, officials from the province's Fire Marshall's office, the federal Transportation Safety Board, the Departments of the Environment and Transportation and other agencies coordinated their efforts along with local fire departments to deal with the situation.

At approximately 5 p.m., officials decided to evacuate homes along a kilometre stretch of Highway 144. The evacuation involved approximately 30 families or 100 residents who were told to leave their homes on a few minutes' notice and to go to the Regional School in nearby St. André. However, many chose instead to go to the homes of relatives or friends. The local Red Cross emergency team was on standby to help find lodging for those who would have had no other place to go.

Residents were allowed back to their residences shortly before 10:30 p.m. later that same day when officials determined the risk of any explosion or any other incident at the derailment scene was low.

A second evacuation did not materialize and nearby residents continued to watch the clean up work as it progressed throughout the weekend and into the following week.

CN repair and restoration crews started arriving on the scene Thursday evening, and by Friday afternoon hundreds of workers, dozens of pieces of heavy equipment and numerous contractors were on the scene to clean up the mess.

There was no leak of dangerous commodities and no loss of product, therefore there was no environmental impact.

The track reopened Saturday afternoon, but residents still saw work on the site as pieces of damaged cars and twisted rails were hauled away by truck. A couple of cars were re-railed and hauled away while cars which were too damaged to be transported on rails were pulled off the track and taken away by truck.

CN runs eight freight trains daily on the line. Service on the line was restored to other train traffic at approximately 12:15 p.m. on Saturday.

Efforts to drain three remaining cars, one containing propane and two with butane, began on Sunday and continued into the following week. Once each car was emptied of half of its content, whatever was left was burned off.