Thirty six of 58 Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) cars were removed from the scene of a derailment near North Bay, March 5.
The cleanup at the site northeast of the city near Highway 63 and Peninsula Road was underway more than 24 hours after the train left the tracks on March 5.
“As of Tuesday evening (March 5) 36 of the rail cars have been removed from the scene,” ONR spokeswoman Renée Baker told BayToday. “Equipment has been mobilized to facilitate re-railing of the remaining cars and repair of infrastructure."
Baker said there were no environmental concerns and freight service is expected to resume by Friday.
An incident command post was set up with an emergency response team comprised of rail experts, Transport Canada and a dangerous goods expert from the Railway Association of Canada. The clean-up response is being led by Ontario Northland Railway in coordination with the Ministry of the Environment.
Some of the rail cars were tankers containing sulphuric acid, which were empty at the time of the derailment. The two ONR employees aboard the train were uninjured.
As a precautionary measure, residents in three homes located in immediate proximity to the derailment were evacuated.
“Information from assessments completed at this early stage of the investigation indicate that there is no environmental or public health risk as a result of the derailment," said Mayor Al McDonald. "The assessments will continue throughout the clean-up process.”
