Crews have been laying down new rail tracks after another CN train derailment west of Edmonton.

Company spokesperson, Patrick Waldron, told CTV News the incident happened east of Highway 32 near Peers around 1 a.m. Sunday.

Thirteen cars derailed from a train heading east, 12 were carrying lumber and one was carrying sulphur dioxide.

“The one car that was a dangerous goods car carrying sulphur dioxide remained upright, it was not leaking, and there is no environmental concern,” Waldron explained.

“We’ve launched a comprehensive investigation into what happened last night that is now under way, but it’s still in the early stages.”

Yellowhead County officials said local fire fighters were not called out to the scene but the deputy fire chief had gone out to assess the incident.

This derailment comes just two weeks after another CN train derailment and explosion just an hour away in Gainford, causing 120 residents to evacuate.

However, Waldron said he was not going speculate on any connection between the two incidences.

“I’m not going to draw any conclusions. We’re going to let those investigations run their course so we can determine exactly what happened, as we would with any incident on the railroad.”

This is the fourth train derailment in the province since September.

Peers is about 180 kilometres west of Edmonton. .  

With files from Sarah Richter, Veronica Jubinville

 

 


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