Skip to content

Rail traffic starts moving after 60-car derailment near Hope

The 60 cars carrying potash crashed along a rail bridge, clean up is ongoing
22738937_web1_200914-MCR-train-derailed-Hope-PUSH-1_1
At least 60 cars were involved in a derailment of a CN Rail train along a rail bridge west of Hope Monday, Sept. 14. (Emelie Peacock/Hope Standard)

Trains started rolling again Thursday morning, after all traffic along a CN track near Hope was halted Monday following a crash involving a CP Rail train carrying potash.

Around 60 cars were involved in the derailment, which occured on a rail bridge west of Hope near Highway 1 in the early hours of Monday, Sept. 14. A large scale clean up operation began later that day, with crews removing the wrecked train cars and vacuuming up potash which had spilled out onto the tracks and down into a creek below the tracks.

VIDEO: 20 cars derail off track in CN Rail wreck in Hope

The early morning crash on Monday, before 4:30 a.m., sent 60 of the 200 cars on a CP train carrying potash crashing into one another. Some cars crashed into an ‘adjacent body of water’ CN stated and a portion of the rail bridge appeared to be damaged. The crash occured above Hunter Creek, which shortly past the rail bridge feeds into the Fraser River.

Potash, the common name for a group of minerals and chemicals containing potassium, is used primarily in the production of fertilizer. Canada has the world’s second largest reserves of potash, and is also the world’s largest producer and exporter of the substance according to Natural Resources Canada.

A site remediation is ongoing and the spilled potash is being removed from the site CN Rail spokesperson Jonathan Abecassis confirmed. B.C.’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, in an update on the spill response, stated sediment fencing and a containment boom are being installed. Plans for water sampling have also been developed, the ministry stated.

Multiple agencies are involved in the clean up effort, including Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “It is not clear yet if this incident has any immediate or direct impact on migrating fish but spawning sturgeon habitat is nearby and, as more information comes in, the situation will be assessed further,” spokesperson Leri Davies stated Sept. 15.

Abecassis added that engagement with First Nations and “local stakeholders” about the clean up will continue.

The cause of the derailment is still under investigation, with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada having deployed to the site Monday.

Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email:
emelie.peacock@hopestandard.com


Facebook and follow us on Twitter

22738937_web1_200917-HSL-CleanUpTrainDerailment-1_9
Heavy machinery was used to dismantle and moved the wreckage from a CP Rail train involved in a crash Sept. 14. (Emelie Peacock/Hope Standard)