Six railcars on an Ottawa Valley Railway train derailed on Monday, June 27th, around 7:40 p.m. “There were no injuries,” explained Tom Ciuba, the vice president of communications for Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Services, Inc., the parent company of Ottawa Valley Railway.
Ciuba confirmed the derailment via an email to BayToday, explaining that “all six cars remain upright with no release of freight.”
Throughout Monday night, the six railcars were put back on track, and “the line is expected to be back in service today,” Ciuba said.
On May 8th, six boxcars carrying wood pulp derailed on the same line, which runs along the eastern side of the Ottawa River, north-west of Mattawa.
See: Train derails north-west of Mattawa
The last derailment “was close to” where the May derailment occurred but was not at the same location. “The cause of the incident is still under investigation,” Ciuba explained.
"OVR is committed to safely serving area businesses that depend on our freight transportation," Ciuba continued. "Given the close proximity of the two derailments, our investigation will include a thorough review and reassessment of data from the derailment in May with that from this week's incident to identify any potential commonalities. Any areas for improvement, if noted, will be addressed to help prevent this from reoccurring."
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
