Train derails north-west of Mattawa

On Sunday, May 8th, a train derailed “six boxcars carrying wood pulp near Mattawa,” explained Tom Ciuba, the president of communication for Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Services, Inc., the parent company of Ottawa Valley Railway.

The company has trains in 43 U.S. states, four Canadian provinces and owns or leases 116 freight railroads worldwide. One of those lines runs through Mattawa and along the eastern side of the Ottawa river until it reaches Témiscaming.

Ciuba’s e-mail to BayToday assured Mattawa residents that “there were no injuries” resulting from the boxcars derailing, and “the root cause of the incident is still under thorough investigation.”

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.