Via Rail passenger train derails near MacGregor

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This article was published 02/01/2020 (2255 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg-bound passenger train carrying 13 people derailed a few kilometres north of MacGregor Tuesday morning, triggering an investigation by the Transportation Safety Board.

MacGregor is located approximately 90 kilometres east of Brandon.

The southbound train, which started its trip in Churchill, encountered what Via Rail is calling an “unexpected incident” at approximately 6:45 a.m. in the area of Provincial Road 350 and Road 73N, triggering the arrival of police, fire personnel and emergency crews to the site along the CN-owned track.

A spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Tuesday an investigator from Winnipeg has been deployed to assist with the investigation.

Via Rail spokesman Karl-Philip Marchand Giguere said in an email that train 692 consisted of two locomotives, which derailed on their side, while the five railcars remained upright after the derailment.

“First responders reached the site quickly to attend to the eight passengers and five Via Rail crew members,” he said.

Two of the passengers and three crew members were taken to hospital for medical attention and later released.

All the passengers were taken by bus to their final destination in Winnipeg.

“Environmental crews are en route to proceed with the cleanup as information available at this time indicates a minimal amount of fuel leakage from one of the locomotives before the train is removed from the site,” Giguere said.

He added Via Rail is collaborating with the infrastructure owner as well as the authorities to determine the cause of the incident.

Penny Flock, 72, was already having a less-than-smooth day of travel by the time the derailment occurred. The retired schoolteacher was scheduled to leave Canora, Sask., for Winnipeg Monday at about 8:30 a.m., but her departure was delayed until just past midnight.

Flock, who has been taking the train for several years to visit her daughter in Norquay, Sask., said passengers around her were sleeping when the ride began to get bumpy.

“They were rudely awakened,” she said, adding some passengers were tossed from their seats.

“It felt like on a plane, when it goes through turbulence, but then we came to a complete stop,” she said.

Plates and cutlery in the train’s kitchen were sent flying, she said.

It was still dark outside and passengers weren’t clear on what happened, but Flock said she soon saw that the two front cars of the train had gone completely off the rails.

“The engine was totally on its side,” she said.

Flock said she was all right, but was feeling a little bit of shock from the stressful travel day. During the winter, she says, she relies on the train to visit family, as she prefers not to drive on the highways. In recent years, she has had delays as long as 52 hours.

Train staff were attentive, constantly checking in on passengers during the ordeal, she said.

“I don’t know how comfortable I’ll feel the next time I take a train,” she said while en route to the Winnipeg Via Station on a chartered bus Tuesday. “It can be going so smoothly, until all of a sudden, it isn’t.”

» brobertson@brandonsun.com, with files from The Winnipeg Free Press