Travel

ViA Train Derails In New Brunswick

Derailment Forces Evacuation


Derailment in Coal Brance, N.B. (Source: Brian Teepell)
USPA NEWS - For the second time in two weeks a VIA Rail train traveling in Atlantic Canada has been involved in an accident which forces an evacuation, leaving passengers stranded and the cancellation of next days service. The first incident occurred on March 20th when the train strikes debris causing a fuel leak and the most recent on April 4th when the train is involved in a partial derailment.
On April, 4th a VIA Rail spokesperson Mariam Diaby released the following statement."Two cars on Train 14 out of Montreal derailed near Coal Branch, N.B., over the noon hour, but the cars stayed upright. There's were no injuries to the 94 passengers and 15 crew. As the safety and well-being of our passengers remain our number one priority, we are focusing our efforts into bringing customers currently on-board to their final destinations as quickly and as safely as possible.
VIA is working with its partner, the owner of the rail infrastructure, and will conduct a full investigation to determine the cause of this incident."
Via apologized  for the inconvenience to passengers.
Eric Collard, a spokesperson for the board, said "Two of the agency's investigators were at the site for several days gathering information.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is sending "broken rail pieces" to its lab for analysis.
VIA Train #15 details in Halifax
Source: Brian Teepell
It has been a challenging 6 months for VIA operations in Nova Scotia. Problems started on November 25, 2018 when a VIA train # 15 partially derailed in the yard near the Halifax VIA Rail station. There were no passengers onboard at the time and no crew were injured. The derailment did however force the cancellation of the outbound VIA #15 on that day. All 3 incidents are still under investigation and details will be made public when they become available.
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