(The Canadian Press circulated the following story on January 9.)
NEW HAMBURG, Ont. — A Via Rail train en route to Toronto from London veered off the tracks yesterday morning, stranding passengers and crew members and sending diesel fuel spilling out into the cold. Thirty passengers and four crew members were aboard Train 86 when it jumped the tracks and came to a halt, Via Rail’s Catherine Kaloutsky said.
She said only one injury was reported in the derailment — a young female passenger was burned with hot coffee that spilled when the train skidded.
Minutes after the train jumped the tracks, emergency personnel were on the site to deal with diesel fuel spilling from the engine.
“There was a diesel leak that was contained very quickly,” said Kaloutsky.
“The fire department was on site and investigators from the Ministry of the Environment were on site as well.”
Kaloutsky said passengers stranded by the derailment were ferried to Toronto by a train from nearby Kitchener.
“It was scary,” said one passenger from Stratford. “It was rattling a lot.”
Joe Wurm, a cattle farmer who owns the property south of the derailment, allowed a number of emergency service workers and reporters to park their vehicles by his barn and walk to the accident.
“I didn’t even know what happened until the police knocked on my door this morning,” said Wurm.
“I’ve lived here 25 years and I don’t remember a train ever going off the tracks.”
The cause of the derailment is being investigated, but Waterloo Regional police said the train ran over a piece of broken track at a level crossing.