All Thursday evening and Friday morning trains have been cancelled on the busy train corridor between Toronto and Montreal, Via Rail confirmed.
“We don’t expect our service to resume today so we’re still accommodating our passengers, transporting them on motorcoaches,” said Via Rail spokesperson Mylène Bélanger of the Ottawa-Toronto and Toronto-Montreal Via Rail routes.
The routes have been shut down due to a CN freight train derailment that occurred near Brockville at about 4:10 a.m. Thursday.
Bélanger said the cancellations affected 3,600 passengers and halted 29 trains.
“We expect to gradually resume service tomorrow,” said Bélanger, adding six morning trains are expected to be affected, five going westbound and one headed east. All trains will be replaced by buses unless Via Rail hears anything differently through the night from CN, Bélanger said.
Passengers with existing bookings can either take a full refund or use the bus service. A Via ticket agent confirmed Thursday morning that passengers who choose the bus will get 50 per cent off their next booking.
Trains between Ottawa and Montreal are not affected.
There were no injuries in the 26-car derailment and there was no indication of leaks or exposures of dangerous goods, according to CN spokeswoman Lindsay Fedchyshyn.
CN police and emergency crews were on the scene and were expected to continue working for at least several more hours.
“We are in full response mode,” Fedchyshyn said Thursday morning.
Fedchyshyn said of the 26 derailed train cars, two were fully-loaded automobile carriers, five contained carbon powder, which is often used for water filtration, and 13 were unloaded fuel tankers. The fuel tankers are empty, said Fedchyshyn, but do contain fuel residue.
The remaining six cars were empty. CN was still verifying what the cars were transporting before they were unloaded.
However, with no fuel leaks or exposures the residue is unlikely to cause a dangerous situation.
