CN cleaning up crude spill, has reopened railway after derailment

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This article was published 16/02/2019 (2142 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CN Rail’s environmental experts have started the work of cleaning up crude oil that leaked out or rail cars after a derailment of dozens of oil cars in western Manitoba on Saturday.

CN spokesman Jonathan Abecassis said in a statement that while several of the cars were leaking, the crude oil has been contained and none of it reached the nearby Assiniboine River.

Abecassis said train movements, which were stopped when the 37-cars came off the track near St-Lazare, about 10 kilometres from the Saskatchewan border, and one of the country’s busiest rail lines, resumed at noon on Sunday.

He said the cause of the derailment is still under investigation.

“CN apologizes for any inconvenience this incident has caused to the community and would like to thank the first responders who attended the derailment site,” Abecassis said.

The oil car derailment comes at a time when the amount of oil being sent by rail has doubled because of backlogs in pipeline construction. Statistics from the United States say more than two million barrels of Canadian crude oil is being shipped by rail into the U.S. each month.