Passenger trains cancelled after freight train derailment

STRATHROY, Ont. — Via Rail says train service between Toronto and the city of Sarnia, Ont., near the U.S. border, has been cancelled for two days due to a freight train derailment early Wednesday morning.

Thirteen cars from a CN freight train derailed in the centre of the community of Strathroy, Ont., — about 230 kilometres west of Toronto — just before 4:30 a.m., said Joanne Vanderheyden, mayor of Strathroy-Caradoc.

No one was injured in the incident, she said.

The cars that derailed were not carrying any dangerous material when they went off the tracks, said Vanderheyden, who explained that an east-west railway line used by CN and Via Rail effectively divides the town.

“Most of the cars were either empty, or had paper in them, or soybeans,” she said.

“So, nothing to be too worried about.”

One of the cars had residual traces of petroleum, Vanderheyden said, but it wasn’t carrying a load of it when the derailment happened.

“That was not a concern, either,” she said.

Via Rail said the derailment had led to the cancellation of daily trains between Sarnia and Toronto on Wednesday and Thursday, as well as an early morning train from Sarnia to London, Ont., on Friday. It said trains would still be operating between Toronto and London, Ont.

The Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team of investigators to the site of the derailment.

“The TSB will gather information and assess the occurrence,” it said in a statement.

Some Strathroy residents said the derailment was the talk of the town on Wednesday.

Stu Solomon, a local business owner, said the crash happened near the community’s downtown core.

“There’s a lot of walking traffic going by to look,” he said. “That’s what most of the commotion is.”

James Poag, a jewelry shop owner in the town’s core said the emergency response to the derailment was “impressive for the size of the town.”

“The emergency response to keep everyone informed as to which crossings were opened was so well put together this morning,’ said Poag, who said that none of his employees had trouble getting to work this morning.

“It’s really caused less of an angry response than they might have gotten.”