Deadly train derailment could delay efforts to repair Churchill line
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/09/2018 (2019 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA — Federal officials are investigating Saturday’s deadly derailment along the railway that leads to Churchill, an incident that could delay last-minute efforts to repair the line.
“This derailment will certainly have any impact; we’re assessing that impact,” said Murad Al-Katib, the head of grain giant AGT Foods and spokesman for Arctic Gateway, which took over the Hudson Bay Railway on Aug. 31.
Repairs are ongoing in a race against time to restore rail service along the end of the line, patching up the May 2017 washouts between Gillam and Churchill before November’s freeze-up.
Some 450 kilometres west of where those washouts start, a train carrying gasoline and propane derailed Saturday afternoon, crushing two HBR employees south of Thompson.
RCMP were called to the scene around 5:45 p.m., and flew to the site to find a 38-year-old worker from The Pas, whom officials pronounced dead at the scene. A 59-year-old from the same town was airlifted to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Al-Katib said Monday morning he’d heard the man’s condition had stabilized. Neither workers were involved in the repairs, he said.
He stressed crews will not compromise safety by rushing repairs to the May 2017 washouts. But he said Saturday’s derailment might block ballast from reaching the scene, and staff may have to halt repairs and head west to fix the new damage.
The federal Transportation Safety Board has dispatched an investigator to the scene. As of Monday afternoon, it was not certain whether the investigator reached the site, noting the area has poor cellular reception.
The TSB said Transport Canada will separately probe whether regulations were followed, and if anyone is at fault.
Al-Katib, who was audibly shaken by the weekend’s news, said staff will co-operate with investigators to do “a root-cause analysis.”
On the weekend, Thompson deputy fire chief Selby Brown said the train went off the tracks on a washed-out trestle bridge in a swampy area.
The RCMP said Monday officers at the scene reported it appeared there was no bridge over the Minago River, and it was unclear why. Police said the train might have knocked out the crossing, or someone could have removed it — though foul play isn’t suspected.
It’s unknown when the damage occurred, as a Via Rail train was scheduled to serve that route last Thursday, and Al-Katib said the railway was inspected just a week prior.
The area has experienced heavy rainfall in recent days.
dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca