CN cleans spill from Ont. Derailment
Baku, March 28 (AZERTAC). CN crews were working through Sunday night to clean up jet fuel that spilled earlier in the day from a tanker when 25 freight cars derailed an hour`s drive east of Toronto.
Lindsay Fedchyshyn, a CN spokeswoman said late Sunday the spill was contained with booms at the site near Cobourg, about 100 kilometres east of Toronto.
CN said they expect to deal with the derailed cars that are scattered along the tracks and siding Monday morning.
Earlier, more than a dozen homes were evacuated near the site of the derailment in Hamilton Township, which separates Cobourg and Port Hope. But the province`s emergency management agency dropped a Red Alert late Sunday, saying the immediate threat had subsided.
The evacuation area was reduced to 800 metres from 1.6 kilometres, the agency said. Highway 2 remains closed to all traffic between Hamilton Road and Augustine Road.
"As this is an ongoing situation, the public is advised to stay away from the area while the cleanup continues," Emergency Management Ontario said in a release.
Mark Lovshin, mayor of Hamilton Township, said the derailment caused a small grass fire, which was controlled by firefighters. No injuries have been reported.
CN said some of the cars contained hazardous materials, fuel and propane. At least two of them were carrying jet fuel, and another one carried propane. Firefighters continue to monitor a small fire that was flaring in the propane car, Fedchyshyn said.
The derailment also severed a gas line parallel to the tracks, and the gas company is at the scene.
Four separate fire departments responded to the accident.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada deployed a three-person team to the accident. TSB senior Rail investigator Tom Griffith is in charge.
Via Rail service between Toronto and Ottawa and Toronto and Montreal has been stopped, and won`t run again until the rail line is reopened. Via Rail is now running buses on those routes for passengers with reservations but won`t be accepting new bookings for trains on either routes until at least Monday evening.
Jim Feeny, head of public affairs at CN, said a hazardous materials team from Toronto, about an hour`s drive west of the town, is dealing with the accident.
Feeny says he doesn`t know the cause of the derailment and expects to hold another update on the situation early in the evening.
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