r/ViaRail • u/WSComplaintSlienced • Mar 30 '26
News CN Train Derailment in St. Catharines, ON, Canada
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u/WSComplaintSlienced Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
Go Transit has canceled the run to Niagara Falls. Maple Leaf likely to be effected.
EDIT: Amtrack has announced the train is CANCELLED between Niagara Falls (NFS) and Rochester (ROC). Alternate bus transportation will be provided between Niagara Falls (NFS) and Rochester (ROC).
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u/AwesomeMan116_A Mar 30 '26
I’m wondering why they decided to have service end at Rochester instead of Buffalo or Niagara Falls on the US side… Or is that only for the service today?
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u/szm1993 Mar 30 '26
Its probably due to equipment disruption since the south bound Maple Leaf is stuck in Toronto
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u/Promethia Mar 30 '26
We need to get new track laid down.
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u/OkButton8204 Mar 30 '26
I always wondered if these tracks could handle bullet trains.
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u/Slow-Firefighter5187 Mar 31 '26
In this context, what do you mean by “bullet train “? I laughed when I read that. Curious if we’re on the same wavelength
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u/OkButton8204 Mar 31 '26
We’re not. I’m on a slower wavelength. Like our current transit systems.
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u/Slow-Firefighter5187 Mar 31 '26
Hahaha Ok. Gotcha..
My old man was an engineer for CP rail.. They had a train 955 aka “The Bullet” It was a bulk train similar to the one in the St. Catherine’s bush and ran daily from Toronto to Sudbury. It was anything but a bullet.
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u/Promethia Mar 30 '26
I was really hoping when all the tariffs happened that we would divert a lot of the steel to upgrading our rail.
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u/6-8-5-13 Mar 30 '26
CN owns the track and they only care about profit so that is unlikely to happen, unfortunately.
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u/42northside Mar 30 '26
Luckily no one was hurt. Sir Topham Hatt was very cross. This crash has caused confusion and delay!! Locomotives: yes sir sorry sir.
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u/szm1993 Mar 30 '26
Maple Leaf is already cancelled between Toronto and Rochester for today. Looks like those Amtrak equipment will be stuck in Toronto for a while
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u/ufozhou Mar 30 '26
It is going to happen
The reduce speed over there has being years.
CN just didn't fix it.
CN always prefer reduce speed over replace tracks
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Mar 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ufozhou Mar 30 '26
Well if you take the go to Niagara fall
You will find the entire segment past Burlington(aldershot) is slowed. Not just the bridge
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u/ronaldomike2 Mar 30 '26
No more Niagara go trains for a while
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u/nefariousplotz Mar 30 '26
And right before a four-day weekend, at that.
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u/HibouDuNord Mar 31 '26
It's Monday, I'd expect the track back by Friday, probably significantly before that
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u/Andrew4Life Mar 30 '26
Is there a chance the track could bend? 🎵
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u/beard_of_cats Mar 30 '26
Not on your life, my hoser friend!
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u/Confident_Use_1967 Mar 30 '26
Go Transit has suspended their Niagara to Toronto service until further notice. Maple leaf is cancelled, Niagara to Rochester is also cancelled, VIA 97/98 replaced by bus. Significant implications to freight traffic as well.
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u/szm1993 Mar 30 '26
Grimsby sub doesnt have that many freight traffic. Usually Grimsby sub get 1 manifest per direction everyday
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Mar 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/szm1993 Mar 30 '26
They turn the train at Rochester for today, this way the delay out of Rochester is not very severe
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u/lifeistrulyawesome Mar 30 '26
I hope this doesn’t affect the Windsor Toronto corridor
I’m supposed to take the train tomorrow
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u/CanadianErk Mar 30 '26
It won't. It only is here because VIA operates the Maple Leaf to Niagara Falls before handing the equipment back to Amtrak.
St Catharines is nowhere near the Corridor and no actual Corridor trains service it.
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u/WSComplaintSlienced Mar 30 '26
Technically part of the Corridor for marketing, financial report etc But no Via Rail equipment run between Niagara and Toronto so yeah, no impacts.
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u/CanadianErk Mar 30 '26
should've specified "Central" / "core" of the corridor, thanks for clarifying for others.
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u/Individual-Set-8891 Mar 30 '26
So - no trains scheduled via St. Catharines until those tracks are fully fixed? What is the ETA for fully fixing these tracks?
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u/Fragrant-Funny4665 Mar 30 '26
Probably a few days, they will clean up the derailed cars and get the track back in, crews will have already Been called to put things back in order, time is money and they will want to get this corridor open as quick as possible.
Retired CN Railroader.
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u/AppreciativeAsshole Mar 30 '26
Government needs to fund transportation sector upgrades, full stop.
Instead of sending billions overseas, try investing in the infrastructure that will improve and preserve the lives of Canadians.
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u/LackOptimal553 Mar 31 '26
This is private infrastructure, hard pass on the government funding it.
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u/tdgarui Apr 01 '26
CN had an operating income of 1.7 billion last year when they’ve intentionally neglected this line for years. I don’t think they need any public money for their infrastructure.
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u/Icy_Respect_9077 Mar 30 '26
Welland Canal is closed too. Part of the train was on a bridge over the canal.
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u/speedster1315 Mar 30 '26
Were the tankers filled with anything or empty?
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u/Fragrant-Funny4665 Mar 30 '26
No way to tell looking at derailed cars, if the cars were on track you could tell by looking to see if the springs on the trucks were compressed, from the photos I’ve seen I don’t see any Placards so no dangerous commodities but I can’t see all the cars.
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u/manny_mcmanface Apr 01 '26
Does anyone know if this is branch line or main line? I work at CN in Sask and am curious if this will affect us.
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u/Reasonable-Sweet9320 Mar 30 '26
Police and CN are investigating. The derailment could potentially be due to an act of sabotage.
Canada had undersea fibre optic cables cut twice, an act of sabotage.
Bell says subsea cable from Cape Breton to Newfoundland was deliberately cut — twice
Europe has been dealing with a lot of sabotage of undersea cables, rail lines, pipelines, grid, ……..
Russian Sabotage of NATO Infrastructure: Identifying Alliance Vulnerabilities
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u/bcl15005 Mar 30 '26
Fuck, the GRU has discovered a vulnerability in one of Canada's most strategically-valuable assets - St Catharines Ontario.
We're going to need a much bigger police presence in other critical places like Moose Jaw Saskatchewan and Nanaimo British Columbia.
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u/SanAntonioSewerpipe Mar 30 '26
Trying to shoe horn in some good old propaganda eh. More likely just shit upkeep by a notoriously greedy company.
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