PORT HURON, Mich. — Cleanup continues after a Friday derailment in the St. Clair River tunnel connecting the U.S. and Canada, which resulted in a spill of more than 13,000 gallons of sulfuric acid.The Port Huron Times Herald reported Saturday afternoon crews were preparing to pump out the spilled acid after removing other cars to gain access. More than 40 cars of a Canadian National train were reported to have derailed in the tunnel connecting Port Huron to Sarnia, Ontario, early Friday morning. [See “CN experiences derailment in St. Clair River tunnel,” Trains News Wire, June 28, 2019.] Police and fire crews from both sides of the border responded and have remained on the scene.
Crews have been working from both ends of the tunnel to clear the derailment. Larry Lloyd, CN government and public affairs manager, told the Times Herald in an email that “an investigation is underway into the cause of the derailment.”
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in a press release that it and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board have dispatched teams of investigators. If the point of the derailment is determined to be in Canada, the TSB will become the lead agency in the investigation; if it is the U.S., the NTSB will take the primary role.
The Sarnia Observer reported 46 cars derailed and quoted Mike Otis of Sarnia Fire Rescue as saying “there’s no off-site impact or public hazard” from the acid spill.
No estimate has been given for reopening the route. The tunnel, more than a mile long, opened in 1995 to replace a structure completed in 1891.
I would have come thru that tunnel with parents when we took CN to Toronto. We went from Pt. Huron to Sarnia, after Toronto, we changed trains for Montreal, and again for Quebec City. Montreal had a huge cake they were cutting up for 25th anniversary of the station. It was very convenient located right under the Queen Elizabeth Hotel where we stayed. From there we went to Ottawa, and back home thru the same tunnel.
Sounds like the original tunnel had been replaced.
Had the 1891 tunnel that was replaced been rehabilitated and upgraded, there would not be blockage of rail traffic. Continued use with the new 1995 tunnel would certainly ease traffic flow.
[A trespasser snoozing at trackside prior to the derailment in the tunnel would have had a rude awakening.]
It would likely have cost far more to maintain the old tunnel, to keep the water out for 24 years, than the cost of this cleanup and detours. This is the first substantial incident since the tunnel opened. So many of today’s cars can’t fit through the old tunnel anyway. No doublestacks of any type, no excess height cars of any type. It was enlarged slightly circa 1949 but could not be enlarged any further.