Investigators probe 3-train crash
Source: CBC
Published: April 8th 2008
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Investigators are getting a closer look at a three-train collision and derailment in southeastern Saskatchewan now that a fire is out.

Throughout the day Monday, thick black smoke billowed from a burning railcar following a collision involving the trains near Ralph, Sask.

Several rail cars were derailed. The collision also sparked a grass fire.

Some rail workers were taken to hospital for observation, but no one was seriously injured, the RCMP said.

Because of the fire and the fact the rail cars were carrying toxic chemicals, firefighters initially kept their distance.

Later, they pumped water on the site and extinguished the fire, the RCMP said.

The railcar that burned is now believed to have contained plastic pellets, not ethelyne glycol as was originally thought, the RCMP said.

Residents of at least six farms in a two-kilometre radius were evacuated from the area. By Tuesday morning, the residents were returning to their homes.

Investigators from Canadian Pacific Railway and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are now at work trying to figure out how three trains collided.

However, it appears one train hit another from behind. A number of cars were then knocked off the tracks and into a third train, on a parallel track.
 

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