By David F. Rooney
A derailment that shut down traffic on the Canadian Pacific Railway’s main line for half the weekend was of an “infrequent — even unusual” nature, says CPR spokesman Mike LoVecchio.
He said the incident involved a westbound grain train and an eastbound inter-modal train that came into contact with each other at the west switch at Redgrave station near Golden. The incident derailed two locomotives and four grain cars from the westbound train and four auto carriers from the inter-modal unit. No hazardous materials were involved. No one was injured and no one was trapped during the incident.
LoVecchio would not comment on reports that one train overshot a stop light and came into contact with another.
“We don’t know the exact sequence of events,” said LoVecchio, who is the CPR’s senior manager for media relations. “That’s what our investigation will determine.”
The incident shut down traffic on the main line for 24 hours. Trains were back up and running on Sunday.
While derailments do happen — as anyone who lives in a railway town knows — “incidents like this are infrequent — even unusual,” LoVecchio said.
He noted that once the train crew reported the situation, the CPR shut down the line and notified officials in the Town of Golden and Columbia Shuswap Regional District.
“That’s standard procedure for us,” LoVecchio said.
