A Canadian Pacific freight train derailed and caught fire in Maine on Saturday, leaving three railroad employees with minor injuries.
“A total of three locomotive engines and six railroad cars carrying lumber and electrical wires derailed in a wooded area, where they caught fire and a small forest fire started,” the Maine Department of Forestry said in a statement.
She added that additional railway cars transporting hazardous materials did not derail, adding that these dangerous materials are “not in danger” of leakage and ignition.
Canadian Pacific said in a statement that the derailment occurred when the train encountered a “track drift”. Drift may be caused by the accumulation of melting snow and debris.
Earlier in the day, Rockwood Fire and Rescue posted a photo of the derailment on its Facebook page asking residents to “stay clear.” It’s the third such accident this week, after derailments in Pittsburgh and Alabama.
View of a train after the derailment and fire near Rockwood, Maine
Three locomotive engines and six cars carrying lumber and electrical wires derailed at approximately 8:30 a.m.
C. Donnell Carlson, Canada Pacific’s director of communications for Kansas City confirmed the derailment about 15 miles east of Jackman and said hazardous items of the train’s cargo were not involved in the fire.
“Our emergency response teams and hazardous materials experts have responded and continue to fully assess the situation,” Carlson said in a statement. There are no evacuations and no threat to public safety.
The nearby Rockwood Fire and Rescue Department posted a photo of the derailment on its Facebook page and advised residents to stay away from the area. The image showed several derailed cars and a small fire, with black smoke billowing through snowy thickets.
A merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern was announced on Friday. The rail line itself is considered to be the first single-line railway linking Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
The derailment occurred in Rockwood, Maine, a village in Somerset County on the border with Moosehead Lake
A train carrying hazardous materials derailed near Rockwood, a village in Somerset County bordering Moosehead Lake, Maine.
Saturday’s crash was the latest derailment to occur across the United States
Derailment is the latest one to hit the railway industry. Federal regulators and members of Congress are urging railroads to do more to prevent derailments after recent fiery debris involving hazardous chemicals in Ohio and Minnesota prompted evacuations.
Rookwood, 90 miles northwest of Bangor, is a village in the county of Somerset with about 300 inhabitants. Located on the west side of Moosehead Lake, one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the state, it is a destination for salmon and trout fishing in both the lake and the Moose River.
Earlier this week, 11 cars on the North Atlantic Southern Train derailed in Jasper, Alabama.
Two crew members were taken to a nearby hospital after the accident, but have since been released.
According to Norfolk Southern, the train crew was briefly trapped in the engine room because the engine was tilted. There were no major injuries, but an RPS gunner was called to the scene to assess the crew and two crew members were removed as a precaution, Jasper Polis wrote in a statement.
Jasper Fire summons all personnel to help the crew get off the train and manage the scene of the accident, along with Jasper Police. Norfolk Southern and Walker County EMAs are still on the scene to return the track to service, the statement continued.
This came just hours after five Norfolk Southern trains derailed in Pittsburgh, without causing hazards or injuries, according to authorities.
The Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety said five empty train cars derailed near Telford and West Carson Streets in the city’s Asplen neighborhood.
City officials temporarily closed off portions of West Carson Street as crews moved equipment through the area to remove derailed cars.
It was not clear why this deviation.
Saturday’s crash was the latest derailment to occur across the United States, following the Norfolk Southern derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, in February.
The toxic train derailed in a fiery accident on February 3, prompting authorities to evacuate the surrounding East Palestine area of Ohio. A giant plume of smoke can be seen in the aftermath of the accident that can be seen from miles away
Saturday’s crash was the latest derailment across the United States, following the Norfolk Southern derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, in February.
This resulted in the evacuation of the population after the trains spilled hazardous materials.
Norfolk Southern has faced increasing safety criticism since the major derailment.
Subsequently, the state of Ohio sued the railroad over the derailment of a freight train for exposing the East Palestine to massive levels of toxic substances.
The lawsuit demanded that the company pay the costs of the full clean-up of the accident and any environmental damage caused.
It also seeks to force the company to pay the costs of monitoring groundwater and soil in the coming years, along with compensation for economic losses in eastern Palestine and the surrounding areas.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw apologized to Congress in early March for the impact the derailment had on the village and surrounding communities, but made no specific commitments to pay for the long-term health and economic damage.
The company pledged to provide more than $20 million in aid to eastern Palestine.
