Rail traffic to resume after train carrying potash derails near Swift Current
A Tuesday night derailment outside of Swift Current affected trains from B.C. to Ontario.
Because of the backup it caused, cleanup was expected to take less than 24 hours, after initial estimates reflected the efforts could take a couple days.
“They’re telling me the trains will be moving today,” Swift Current Rural Fire Department Chief Louis Cherpin said Wednesday morning, adding that extreme cold makes reaching that target an uphill climb. “If it was June, it might be a little better.”
Cherpin’s crews responded at 6 p.m. Tuesday after 12 of the 152 cars carrying potash derailed on a Canadian Pacific Railway track about 10 kilometres outside Swift Current.
CP crews were on site by 10 p.m. and the provincial government is working with CP, first responders and Transport Canada.
The plan is to move the dozen cars away from the track, fix the track, get the cars moving again and clean up the mess afterward.
While minimal potash was spilled, Cherpin estimated that somewhere between 45 and 90 litres of fuel leaked from of the rear locomotive.
The cause of the derailment is still unknown, but Cherpin was under the impression it was a “problem with the switch.”
There were no reported injuries and no fire connected to the derailment.