Ignace Ontario - For the second time in less than a month, a Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) freight train has derailed west of Ignace.
 
According to Jerry Berriault, the regional senior investigator for rail and pipeline with the Transportation Safety Board (TSB), the train's derailment was caused by a combination of recent repair work to the rail track and severe weather fluctuations.
 
Seventeen train cars carrying coal derailed around mile 12 on the CP Ignace subdivision around 16:20 on 17 Jun 2020.
 
Most of the cars were upright, and the derailment took place in a "fairly remote location" with no waterways in the vicinity.
 
"Restoration and rehabilitation work" was completed on the tracks in the same location after 50 grain cars derailed on 25 May 2020.
 
Following the first derailment, Berriault said, CP had to restore the infrastructure on that line and would have laid a new track, new ballast, and new ties.
 
The new infrastructure had not yet had time to "lock in or settle" before "severe weather fluctuations" caused the track to buckle, leading to the derailment of the second train last week.
 
Berriault added that there was a "temporary slow order in effect at the time of derailment."
 
He credited the fact that the train was only travelling at 19 mph with minimizing the severity of the incident.
 
There were two crew members working in the lead locomotive at the time of the derailment, but according to a statement by CP spokesperson Andy Cummings, there were no injuries as a result, and no dangerous goods were involved in the incident.
 
Penny Lucas, the mayor of the Township of Ignace, said she received a call about a half hour after the derailment happened to notify her about the incident.
 
She noted that it took place "about a kilometre or so from where the last derailment took place."
 
Officials are still investigating the cause of the first derailment.
 
Logan Turner.