Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1988 June 22 - 25 cars derail at Coteau East, CNR., Kingston sub., no injuries.

Ottawa Citizen 24 June 1988 Montreal-Ottawa trains delayed by derailment COTEAU-EAST, Que. (CP) -VIA Rail passengers travelling between Montreal and Toronto faced delays of up to two hours today after 25 cars of a freight train derailed on CN Rail's main line Wednesday. Trains between the two cities were rerouted on CP Rail tracks between Dorval, Que., and Smiths Falls, Ont, said VIA Rail official Marcel Bordeleau. Trains between Montreal and Ottawa, which were delayed one hour by the derailment, were rerouted by Debeaujeu, near the scene of the accident, about 40 kilometres west of Montreal, Bordeleau said. VIA Rail chartered a bus for passengers originating at stations between Cornwall and Brockville, because that stretch of rail line was closed. In addition, VIA will give passengers who faced long delays a 50-per-cent credit on the price of their tickets, Bordeleau said. The track was expected to reopen by midnight Thursday, when train schedules would return to near normal. Bordeleau said trains may be delayed by 10 to 15 minutes for the next several days because they will have to travel more slowly than usual near the site of the derailment. Between 15 and 20 trains were affected by the derailment, Bordeleau said, but there were no injuries. CN Rail official Jean-Guy Brodeur said the cause of the accident would be known only after an investigation by the National Transportation Agency. He said he could not estimate the damage to the train, which was made up of three locomotives, 56 loaded cars and 78 empty cars. Twelve of the 25 derailed cars were loaded with rolls of newsprint while the others, including a tanker car, were empty.  23 cars of 134-car CNR train 393 derailed at Coteau East tying up both main lines for a day and a half. (Branchline, July/August 1988, page 19).

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Updated 21 July 2020