(The Canadian Press circulated the following story on May 23.)
ORILLA, Ont. — A freight train derailment involving more than 40 cars, some leaking sulphuric acid, forced about 50 people from their homes overnight in this small Lake Simcoe village yesterday.
CN Rail said it would cover the expenses for the residents who were kept away from their homes.
“I was just walking out of the door . . . and I looked up and part of the train was gone and all of a sudden some of the cars fell over,” said Laura Berry, who was working at the weighscales of the Brechin quarry when the derailment occurred around noon.
“The next thing you know the ones from behind all started piling up and they pushed into the tankers. They went over like dominoes,” said Berry.
Twenty tanker cars carrying sulphuric acid ended up a tangled mess beside the tracks.
Twenty seven boxcars with rolls of pulp paper also derailed.
“We have just started the investigation and it could take some time,” said Ian Thomson, a CN spokesman.
Thomson said crews would work overnight and the cleanup of the site should be completed within a few days.
Thomson said investigators will have to listen to the train s event recorder and interview the crew, neither of whom was injured in the derailment, to figure out why it went off the rails, and, how fast it was going.
Thomson also did not know how much of the 62,600 kilograms of acid in each of the two cars spilled but said it was contained before it reached a nearby ditch.
“I expect the environmental impact to be minimal. We have environmental crews on scene who quickly contained the spill, ” said Thomson.
Environment ministry staff were at the scene monitoring the spill’s impact on the ground and surface water. They said the spill had been contained, but would not comment further.
Acid was still spilling from one of the cars late Wednesday evening.
Two firefighters, who fought spot grass fires along the train tracks, were sent to hospital in Orillia, 30 kilometres away, for observation after inhaling some of the potentially lethal sulphuric acid fumes.
It s just a precautionary measure. Neither were showing any symptoms, but they did inhale some of the fumes, said Ted Conway, chief of the Ramara Township fire department.
The two firefighters were and back at the scene of the crash yesterday night.
The 112-car train was on its way to the CN yard in Concord, north of Toronto from North Bay.
Sulphuric acid is used by mining companies in northern Ontario and was being transported to facilities in southern Ontario for recycling.