Train derails in Longueuil, Que., raising concerns about chemical spill
No injuries reported, city urged people close to site to stay indoors
A freight train derailed in Longueuil, Que., on Montreal's South Shore, Thursday morning, sparking concerns about a chemical spill and sending a cloud of white smoke drifting toward a residential area.
The derailment occurred around 8:30 a.m., when eight train cars went off the rails at a Canadian National (CN) triage site, near the corner of St-Georges and St-Louis streets, in the LeMoyne neighbourhood. Four of the cars remained upright; four fell on their sides. It was unclear what caused the derailment.
No injuries were reported, a CN spokesperson said, but three CN workers were taken to hospital as a preventive measure.
A plume of smoke began billowing from at least one of the derailed train cars. A video from the scene showed firefighters spraying water onto it from above. The train appeared to be mostly upright, but several containers were bent at an angle, off the track.
Officials with CN and the City of Longueuil said at least one of the train cars contained hydrogen peroxide, a potentially harmful chemical that is used in a variety of industrial processes but also in household goods.
Soon after the incident, the city said people who live within 800 metres of the derailment should stay indoors and keep their windows and doors closed.
Longueuil police also established a large security perimeter around the site and closed access to Highway 116. All restrictions were lifted early Friday.
As a preventive measure, 13 schools affiliated with the Centre de services scolaire Marie-Victorin are under confinement order, according to a post on the service centre's Facebook page. As of 10:50 a.m., five of the schools began resuming their regular activities, though the service centre highlighted that most of its students were at home Thursday for a pedagogical day.
Pierre Marcoux, the interim director of the Petite Semence daycare, which is near the site of the derailment, said he started seeing smoke rising around 9:15 a.m. He said police told the daycare to evacuate to a nearby college.
"It was peroxide smoke. It's toxic," he said. "The daycare educators were pushing strollers with eight children in them. It was a real evacuation.… We weren't really in the toxic smoke so we were OK."
CN said its hazardous materials team was on the scene, but by noon, it was too early to say how long the confinement order would last.
The derailment affected tracks used by Exo, the commuter train service, and Via Rail. In a statement, Via Rail said because of the uncertainty over when the tracks would again be clear, it was cancelling four trains running between Montreal and Quebec City.
Longueuil Mayor Catherine Fournier said at a 2:45 p.m. news conference that firefighters had stopped pouring water onto the train cars and the situation was under control.
But she said both public health officials and the Environment Ministry were conducting tests to determine if the hydrogen peroxide was hazardous to people or if it had contaminated anything in the area.
She said until the results of those tests come in, people in the area should remain indoors. She was unsure how much longer that confinement would last or when the highway and the train tracks would reopen.
Hydrogen peroxide is used in a variety of industrial processes. It is also used as a household disinfectant and is in consumer products including teeth whiteners and bleach. At low concentrations it may be an irritant to eyes. Exposure to industrial strength concentrations can cause severe irritation or burns to the skin and respiratory tract, according to Health Canada.
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With files from Radio-Canada