WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Crews in southern Manitoba were working on December 7 to repair a section of railway after a late-night freight-train derailment, a wire service reports.
“Between the detours that we have available and the relatively short time that it will take us to put the line back in operation, we should be able to minimize customer impact,” said Jim Feeny, a spokesman for Canadian National Railway Co., Canada’s largest rail carrier.
Thirty-two cars of a 98-car train went off the track while traveling eastbound near the community of Firdale, Manitoba, just before 11 p.m. local time on Thursday. Firdale is approximately 120 km (75 miles) west of Winnipeg, Manitoba’s capital.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said there were no injuries and that no hazardous materials had spilled from the fully loaded train that stretched 5,928 feet (1,800 metres).
Police said a broken axle on one of the cars had set off a chain reaction, causing the derailment.
CN officials said the area could be cleared and the tracks repaired as early as Saturday morning.
In the meantime, CN trains using the busy transportation corridor would be rerouted to Canadian Pacific Railway tracks or to anther CN line crossing the northern Prairies, Feeny said.