Propane tanker, box cars jump track in downtown Strathroy

Authorities are at the scene of a freight train derailment in Strathroy scrambling to clear toppled cars blocking a busy rail route between London and the U.S.-Canada border crossing.

Thirteencars, including one empty propane tanker,located at the end of the train jumped the tracks before dawn on the westbound side of the route that runs to Sarnia.

There wereno injuries, despite the accident happening in a primarily residential areaclose to the city's downtown andacross from the Beer Store.

One car, carrying an environmentally sensitive product called petroalkylate,used in the manufacturingof plastics, leaked onto the track, CN said in a statement.

Another car that had contained liquefied petroleum gas was also involved, though it was empty when it jumped the track.

"The small leak was stopped and the spilled product was contained to the track," spokesperson Jonathan Abecassiswrote.

The other cars, CN said, were carrying paper and agricultural products.

VIA cancels routes

Passenger train service betweenSarniaand Toronto, with stops in London andKitchener, will be disrupted Wednesday and Thursday in both directions, VIA Rail spokesperson MiriamDiabysaid.

• Cancelled Wednesday: Train 84 & 87
• Cancelled Thursday: Train 84
• Altered Thursday: Train 87 stops in London

Drivers travelling throughStrathroyare also being rerouted. Carroll Street is closed from Queen Street to York Street forrepair work. The Metcalfe Streetrail crossing also remains closed.

All rail-crossings andCarroll Street is expected to re-open by 2 a.m.on Thursday according to a release from the city.

The Transportation Safety Board has sent two investigators to collect the locomotive's voice recorder, or black box, to help determine the cause of the crash.

"From the black box, we usually get the train speed, the position of the breaks and whether the bells and whistles were being sounded on the locomotive," TSP spokespersonChrisKrepskiexplains.

He said there were 129 cars in total on the train, and as part of the investigation, the TSBwill look at their condition and that of the track.

'We are lucky'

A box car wound up in the middle of the road, less than 250 meters from family homes, drawing onlookers shocked by the tangled mess of metal.

"There are cars bunched up and there's a lot of debris," Strathroymayor JoanneVanderheyden said calling the derailment an accident.

Still, residents were relieved the derailment happened when it did, only hours before the morning rush hour when the roads were deserted.

"It is a populated area and this is a busy roadway so we are lucky no one was injured," said Strathroy-Caradoc Police Const. MarkThuss.

The city's mayor was at the scene right after the accident happened at 4:15 a.m.and urged people to stay away from the area.

"It's one of those things when you have a railway going through your municipality. [A derailment] is a possibility." Vanderheyden said.