(The following story by Ann Carroll appeared on The Montreal Gazette website on February 26, 2010.)
MONTREAL — Weary passengers alighted a coach and trooped into Central Station in Montreal Thursday morning, six hours after their VIA Rail train derailed in St. Charles de Bellechasse, about 25 kilometres southeast of Quebec City.
Steven Burns, 68, was asleep when he was woken at 4:45 a.m. by the clanging and shaking as the passenger train jumped the tracks.
“I could feel the train leave the tracks and I woke with a shock,” said Burns, who came to Montreal to visit his brother in the Eastern Townships.
“I find it remarkable that no one was seriously injured,” he said. “If it were a plane, I might have been killed.”
VIA Rail spokesperson Elizabeth Huart said two people suffered minor injuries in the accident, and one was taken to the hospital.
Earlier media reports said about 10 people were slightly injured or in shock.
Huart could not provide information about the injuries suffered by the train engineer, who was in the locomotive that upended in the back yard of a home near the tracks. The locomotive struck a garage behind the house but none of the residents was injured.
There were 120 passengers and 10 crew on train No. 15 from Halifax to Montreal, Huart said. The train had two locomotives and seven cars.
The cause of the accident has yet to be determined, Huart said.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is conducting an investigation, she noted. “We will collaborate fully with the transportation board,” Huart said. “Safety is our utmost priority.”
While many of the passengers prepared to board onward connections at Central Station, one passenger said he might think twice about train travel in the future.
“”I always thought trains were very safe, but this shakes my confidence,” said Gael Jouvante, a Moncton resident who was en route to Calgary.
Jouvante, 34, was sitting in the car immediately behind the lead locomotive when he felt the train jolt, as if it was switching track.
“There was more noise than usual, and instead of only shaking from left to right, the train started moving up and down, and then stopped abruptly,” he recalled.
“It all happened very fast, but it felt like a long time.”
The shaken passengers were taken off the train and brought to a nearby factory to wait indoors for a coach for the journey to Montreal.
VIA Rail has said some form of compensation will be offered to the passengers.
The rail company has set up a toll-free information number (1-877-747-0707) for passengers, family members and friends.
While most VIA train services have not been affected by the derailment, the wreckage could affect a schedulaed train service tonight from Montreal to Halifax. Passengers should check with VIA Rail to ensure their Halifax-bound train is running as scheduled, Huart said.