SASKATOON – The clean-up process of a derailed train near Saskatoon’s Montgomery Place neighbourhood is ongoing. The derailment of five Canadian National (CN) Railway cars occurred near Viterra’s 11th Street West terminal around 1 a.m. Saturday.
While no one was hurt, people in the area do not take the derailment lightly.
“We knew it would happen sooner or later,” said Barb Biddle, president of Montgomery Place Community Association. “There was relief it wasn’t the oil tankers … we get a lot of them passing by the neighborhood.”
MORE: Cleanup underway at sight of train derailment
But Biddle and many others worry it is only a matter of time before something worse happens – such as emergency vehicles being blocked by trains when it’s a life or death situation.
“We’re all concerned if our house catches on fire, or somebody has a heart attack, how are the emergency vehicles going to get into the community?” she said.
Watch below: Montgomery Place residents worried about trains
City councillor Pat Lorje shares the concern.
“The people of Montgomery have no way of getting out of this community when 11th Street and Dundonald is blocked off by the trains, which happens so frequently,” said Lorje. “They’re blocked for periods of up to fifty minutes at a time. That could mean the difference between life and death, right now emergency vehicles can’t easily get into the community.”
Lorje hopes the city will build a flyover crossing at the intersection of 11th Street West and Dundonald Avenue, where trains occasionally block off traffic. She also said reopening the level crossing at the south end of Dundonald would create an alternate route for residents to leave the neighbourhood.
MORE: Train delays in an emergency a matter of life and death: fire chief
Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison agrees there needs to be action. He said the weekend derailment was “very frustrating for everyone who had to go through that area … (Fire) Chief (Dan) Paulsen has been in contact with the railways about this disruption,” he said.
Atchison sits on a national group looking at rail safety, and is hoping Ottawa and the railways will agree to a solution for Montgomery Place.
“We need to do a rail safety audit,” said Atchison. “That’s over by Fairlight (Drive), I think what we need to put in there is a flyover … those are all discussions that will have to occur, if that does happen – I think if we can get the federal government to come on board, they’d pay a third, the railways would pay a third, and the city pays a third.”
Watch below: Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison discusses issues with trains moving through the city after five cars derailed in Montgomery Place on the weekend
Atchison said any solution is going to cost money – but it needs to get done.
“We need to deal with the situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, no timeline has been given for how long the clean-up will take. In an email statement, a company spokesperson said that “clean up and repair work is underway and Viterra is working with all relevant parties to ensure it is done as safely and swiftly as possible.”
A spokesperson for CN also stated that an investigation into the cause of the derailment is underway.
With files from Joel Senick
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