26 March 2007
Mudslide Blocks CPR Mainline
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Maple Ridge Fire Department Chief Peter Grootendorst (left)
briefs Maple Ridge Mayor Gordon Robson on the mudslide yesterday.
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Maple Ridge British Columbia - A mudslide in Maple Ridge
blocked the Canadian Pacific Railway's mainline for about four hours yesterday and forced the temporary evacuation of three homes.
No one was injured, but the slide, at 1:30 p.m. in the 21400-block River Road, stopped a passing 69-car
freight train in its tracks.
By 6 p.m., CPR work crews had cleared most of the mud from the tracks, which are also used by the West Coast Express commuter trains.
The residents of three houses on the south side of River Road, evacuated for about 7 1/2 hours, were given the all-clear
to return home around 9 p.m. yesterday after an assessment by a geotechnical engineer determined it was safe to do so, said Maple Ridge
District spokesman John Leeburn.
Land behind their homes slid down the long bank onto the tracks below.
A spokesman for the West Coast Express said: "There is no doubt at all" that the commuter trains will run as usual this
morning.
CPR spokesman Ed Greenberg said no trains were rerouted.
"[The slide] is not significantly impacting our operations," said Greenberg. "There were no injuries. The train did not
derail. There were no public-safety concerns."
Greenberg said the slide caught one or two cars on the eastbound train, carrying containers of manufactured consumer goods.
"There was no impact to the rail cars or the cargo inside them," said Greenberg.
The slippage occurred at the top of a bluff, where the riverside homes are located. The bluff is situated above the train tracks to the
north. The Fraser River is immediately to the south of the tracks.
The slide was about 20 metres wide at the top and the length of one rail car at the bottom.
The bank tumbled after several days of heavy rain and the second Pineapple Express storm of the month. While yesterday was mainly
sunny, about 140 to 160 millimetres of rain fell in Maple Ridge over the previous three days.
- Amtrak passenger service will resume today between Seattle and Vancouver.
Crews worked all day yesterday to clear away a mudslide near Crescent Beach in Surrey.
Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said two trains will depart Seattle at 7 a.m. The trains return from Vancouver in the
evening.
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