CALGARY – Six tanker cars that teetered on the broken Bonnybrook rail bridge were successfully removed, early Friday morning.
The bridge partially collapsed over the swollen Bow River around 3:30 a.m. on Thursday, with six rail cars on it. The 11,000-foot long train originated in Edmonton, and was bound for St. Paul, Minnesota.
The cargo in five of the train cars was petroleum distillate, a product that is used as a diluting agent in heavy oil. This product is also used as a solvent used in metal polishes, paint thinner, oil-based stains and paint – among other things.
The sixth car is empty but with an ethylene glycol residue.
There was concern the heavy train cars could fall into the fast-moving Bow River, or leak – but CP officials have confirmed the cargo in the trains was safely contained.
Once the train cars were secured to the bridge, workers pumped the cargo from the tankers into empty train cars on an adjacent bridge.
Locomotives positioned on each end of the damaged bridge then pulled the rail cars to safety.
There were no injuries.
The bridge is a federal bridge, operated by CP, and isn’t one that City of Calgary officials would have inspected after widespread and devastating flooding.
Hunter Harrison, the CEO of CP, had said bridge piers at the bottom of the river failed, and that engineers blamed the failure on fast water scouring away gravel under the support.
Officials said the bridge has been inspected 18 times since the flooding began, and the incident has nothing to do with recent layoffs.
WATCH: Acting Chief Ken Uzeloc discusses the successful removal of the train cars from the Bonnybrook Bridge.
In a news conference on Thursday, Mayor Nenshi assured Calgarians that city bridges are safe, and have been inspected three times since flooding.
He says they are also built differently than the Bonnybrook Bridge.
Nenshi said City of Calgary bridges are built eight feet into bedrock, which the Bonnybrook Bridge is not.
– With files from The Canadian Press
WATCH: Alberta transportation minister Ric McIver commends the efforts to fix many of the damaged roadways in affected areas and the Bonnybrook bridge incident.
Gallery: Ground level images of damage to the Bonnybrook train bridge
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