Watch above: The clean-up effort continues in Slave Lake Friday after a train derailed late Thursday afternoon. Vinesh Pratap reports.
EDMONTON – The cleanup in Slave Lake continues after a CN train derailed just one block off the town’s main street Thursday afternoon.
Crews worked through the night to clear the mess left behind after nine cars loaded with pulp went off the tracks.
About 245 feet of track was replaced following the incident, and shortly before 11 a.m. Friday, one of the first regular trains travelled through. As of noon, one rail crossing at 3rd Street SW was still affected but it was to be cleared later in the day.
“I’m really impressed with the fast response of emergency crews and thankful that there were no injuries,” said Mayor Tyler Warman.
Warren Chandler, CN’s senior manager for public affairs, said Thursday that there were dangerous goods on the train, but those cars did not derail or spill.
Six homes in the area were evacuated as a precaution.
Donny Neudorf, who’s lived behind the tracks for 25 years, says he’s used to the train just “cruising by” his home. That’s what it was doing yesterday, until Neudorf noticed it come to a sudden stop.
“The reason was that a couple cars tipped over. I found out later it was more than a couple… We’re lucky it wasn’t those tanker cars.”
He said he sometimes wonders what would happen if there was a bigger derailment.
“Well, it could come right through my bedroom window…you know, it could come right through there, and crush and kill us.
“There’s nothing you can do about it. If it happens, it happens.”
READ MORE: Questions being raised in Slave Lake over CN Rail bridge
CN’s main line runs through the heart of Slave Lake, a town of about 7,000 residents, 250 km north of Edmonton.
The company provided the following statement to residents on Friday:
A cause for the derailment has not yet been determined.
With files from Vinesh Pratap, Global News
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