Crews clean up freight train derailment in midtown Toronto

Crews have cleared traincars and locomotivesfromthe site of Canadian Pacific Railway derailmentin midtown Toronto on Sundaythatresulted ina leak of 1,200 litres of diesel fuel near a residential area.

Two freight trains, going in opposite directions, sideswiped each other Sunday morningat about 5:20 a.m. ET, in the area of Howland Avenue and Dupont Street, east of Bathurst Street. The derailment damaged the tracks. No one was injured.

Martin Cej, spokespersonfor Calgary-based CP Rail, said the derailed cars and locomotives have been removed, track work is continuing, and an investigation and an environmental assessment areunderway.

• Transport minister wants to know what caused derailment

"Safety is the top priority and will dictate the pace and progress of the work," Cejsaid in a statement.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating.

CP Rail said early indications suggest human error was to blame.

Coun. Josh Matlow, who represents Ward 22, St. Paul's, told CBC's Metro Morning on Monday that the derailmentraises serious concerns.

"Having this derailment happen so close to home, certainly I hope it serves as a wake-up call to the federal government to accelerate their commitments on improving safety standards as we requested," he said.

"It's far too close to home."

Matlow, along with 16 othercouncillors, wrote a letter to Transportation Minister Marc Garneau in March that included a callfor an examination of alternative routes for transportation of dangerous goods.

Toronto Mayor John Tory also signed the letter.

"There's obviously an ongoing debate about carrying a lot of these dangerous goods," Matlowsaid."If there are routes to move these goods in ways where they don't go through the most densely populated neighbourhoods,I think it's reasonable to look at what routes are possible."

Garneau said Mondayhe intendsto act swiftly if it's determined safety lapses caused thederailment.

"The next step is, of course, to find out what happened, why didthis collision occur between two trains going inopposite
directions, what were the consequences," he saidon his wayinto a cabinet retreat in Sudbury, Ont.

"My aim is to reduce as much as possible these kinds ofincidents, and so I intend to act swiftly if we find that there arethings that we need to be doing that we haven't been doing in thepast."

In Sunday's derailment, the train travelling westbound clipped a few cars on the train travelling eastbound near a crossover, an area where the trains can switch tracks.

The three final cars of the train that was sideswiped were carrying small quantities of dangerous goods including batteries, alcoholic beverages, aerosol containers and non-flammable gases under pressure, according to the TSB. None of those goods was released during the collision.

The diesel fuel did not get into storm sewers or waterways, and officials said it posed no threat to the public.

Matlow said the letter to Garneaualso called for more communicationabout the type and amount ofdangerous goods being transported by rail within municipalities.

Emergency services in municipalities receive information about that transportation, but the information is not shared with the public due toconfidentiality agreements, he said.

"The public simply wants to have a better understanding of what's going right next to their homes."

He said there are CN tracksthat run north of Torontothat the CP might be able to use if it could negotiate an agreement with CN.

"I would like the government to get all of the rail companies togetherand say, we have to find out the best ways to mitigaterisk in the most densely populated neighbourhoods of our country. Anything that we can do to mitigate risk, I think that is reasonable to consider," he said.

"We don't want to have a disaster like Lac-Mgantic happen in the heart of Toronto."