Two cars of a Via Rail passenger train derailed about half an hour northwest of Moncton on Thursday afternoon.
The company tells Global News the incident happened at about 12:35 p.m., while the train was heading to Halifax. There were no reported injuries among the 94 passengers and 15 crew members.
Chief Mark Perry of Beersville-Harcourt Fire & Rescue was among the first to respond to the incident, along with RCMP, Via Rail crews, and ambulance.
Perry says there was an immediate sense of relief among first responders when they heard there were no injuries.
“We’re staying on scene to help the passengers get off the train. They’re sending some buses from Moncton and we’re going to help them get off the train so they don’t get hurt,” he said.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) says it is deploying a team of investigators to the site to gather information and assess what happened.
Late last month, the Via Rail train en route from Halifax to Montreal had an incident in Debert, N.S. The train was forced to stop on the tracks when it struck what Via said was “debris.”
A Via staffer later told Global News CN had recently performed work on the track’s tie plates in the area. But the maintenance workers, either belonging to CN or contracted by CN, stacked the plates too high for the train to clear, he alleged.
— With files from Callum Smith and Elizabeth McSheffrey
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