Fire, police and CN crews were on the scene of a rain derailment at Government Street and Brighton Avenue in Burnaby Saturday afternoon, where three coal cars overturned spilling their contents into a nearby creek.
Three CP cars travelling west on a CN railway line tipped off the tracks and flipped over around 11 a.m. Saturday morning.
Cpl. Lea-Anne Dunlop, from the Burnaby RCMP, told the NOW that two people were on the train, and there were no injuries. The cars were carrying coal, and some of the contents had spilled into a creek on the south side of the tracks.
"We've been told that there's sort of no great impact that's going to have environmentally, but obviously there's going to be some dirty city water as a result of the coal in there," she said.
Dunlop said all of the appropriate provincial agencies have been notified and will investigate the incident to determine the exact cause.
"Early indication is there may have been some erosion on the south side of the train tracks here, where the train was coming across that may or may not have played a role in the derailment," Dunlop said. "There's an area of the track that has no soil left under it. Whether that's from the heavy rain we had last night or a result of the derailment, we don't know."
Police have sealed off the scene to the general public, as the area is not considered stable, although Dunlop did said there were no threats to human health.
On Saturday afternoon, media and a small group of onlookers gathered in the light rain at the foot of Brighton, observing the scene.
Burnaby city Coun. Sav Dhaliwal, who lives just a couple of blocks from the site, expressed council's prior concerns about rail shipments travelling through the city.
"It's been a concern for us for a long time. We don't get any information from the railway about what's going through our city, despite the great accident in Lac-Megantic," Dhaliwal said, referring to the Quebec oil train derailment that killed at least 42 people. "The coal is bad enough, but I'm concerned it could have been a lot worse. ... Monday night council is going to consider another motion opposing the expansion of coal exports."
Crews spent the night cleaning up the accident, using heavy equipment to remove the derailed cars. (Click here for video.)
