[120315.EN.LOG] CN To Bypass Crude Inferno in 94-car Mainline Derailment

THE Canadian National Railway (CN) expects to have a bypass around a 94-car derailment on its main line in northern Ontario in 48 hours, but could not yet say when normal service would resume.

The railway said CN and outside specialists are still fighting fires at the site, 373 miles (600 kilometres) north of Toronto, where 38 cars carrying crude oil on the 94-car traind derailed and caught fire, Reuters reports.

A train carrying crude oil that derailed near the northern Ontario community of Gogama (pop 394), CN's second derailment in the region in three days and the third in less than a month.

It was the latest in a series of North American derailments involving trains hauling crude oil, raising concerns about rail safety.

Thirty-eight cars were involved in the derailment. The train had 94 cars containing crude oil. Ontario Provincial Police reopened a nearby highway, but warned of delays as CN moved equipment.

A bridge over a waterway had been damaged and that five tank cars had landed in the water. Oil had leaked into the water and booms were deployed to contain it.

The crude came from Alberta and was destined for eastern Canada.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which is investigating, noted on Saturday that the accident occurred about 23 miles (37 kilometres) from the site of a February 14 accident involving a CN crude oil train.

Source : HKSG.