A train derailment Tuesday morning on CN’s mainline near Kitwanga in northwestern B.C. has crews responding to the incident.
Information supplied to the federal Transportation Safety Board from CN at first indicated 32 covered hopper cars containing wood pellets heading westbound went off the tracks close to the village.
That number has now risen to 34, said CN in a statement this afternoon.
“There is no threat to public safety as no dangerous goods are involved and there are no fires or injuries and no product has entered the adjacent Skeena River,” CN added.
“The cause of the derailment is under investigation.”
The Transportation Safety Board is sending two investigators to the location, one from Vancouver and one from Edmonton, said board official Alexandre Fournier this morning.
“We are making those arrangements now to have them arrive as soon as possible, likely tomorrow,” he says.
CN’s mainline which runs east-west serves a variety of industrial customers in this section of the province, including exports and imports from a major container port at Prince Rupert on the north coast.
VIA Rail also uses the line for a passenger service.
The area experienced a heavy snowfall last Friday and continuing into the weekend, presenting a challenge for crews clearing transportation rights of way.