My office is actively monitoring the train derailment within the international train tunnel. There were no injuries. At this time there is no threat to public safety in the surrounding area. Please avoid the area as we work with our bi-national partners at the scene. pic.twitter.com/OhfBd5OQCC
— James Freed (@JamesFreed) June 28, 2019
PORT HURON, Mich. – A westbound Canadian National freight has derailed in the St. Clair River tunnel linking Port Huron with Sarnia, Ontario, The Detroit News reports. No injuries are reported.
About 40 cars came off the track in tunnel, which could keep the line closed for days, according to the report.
Amtrak’s International last operated through the tunnel in 2004; since then, the state-supported Blue Water has operated from Port Huron to Chicago, leaving no connection to VIA Rail Canada service in Sarnia.
@Charles Landey
Delray Jct is about the best spot to watch; NS,CSX,CN, and CP trackage rights trains. It’s off of I-75 at Dearborn street.You can park across from the tower at an entrance to Blue Circle Cement. Night time can be iffy, I haven’t had an issue down there ever though at night.
Braden – I’ve been to Delray Junction a couple of times maybe around 1976. By then Fort Street Union Depot was long gone and the traffic to the wharves at the west Riverfront (Wabash, maybe Chessie) was pretty much dead if not entirely dead. Southwest Detroit and Downriver back then were (and probably remain to this day) two subsets of something or other, not sure exactly what.
For those not in the know, Delray was a Hungarian community that swelled after the failed 1956 revolution in the home country. Over time the Hungarian families assimilated into the wider community and moved on. Expansion of the sewer plant wiped out most if not all of the residential in Delray.
A bit to the north of Delray, there are a small number of houses that will be razed for the Gordie Howe Bridge approach on the United States side. Continuing north is the thriving Mexican Town and then Corktown where FoMoCo has proposed rehabbing the Michigan Central Depot.
@Charles Landey
I forgot to mention this in my last post. It can only handle 19’. Anything over has to run via Buffalo, NY
Watching trains in Detroit seems to be a bit of a challenge. It’s a big town and an industrial town but it’s all so spread out. Probably the most traffic – Amtrak, CN and Conrail – is between Milwaukee Junction and West Detroit, passing through New Center. But where along that spine is a good place to watch? I suppose the Amtrak platform at New Center, if it is allowed to visit when Amtrak trains aren’t scheduled.
Even in past years, in good times, the industrial corridors were marked by slow speed rail spurs (many of them now gone). Main line action was hard to find.
If someone knows a good train-watching location plz. advise. I don’t get to Detroit much but hopefully there will be a next time eventually.
CN’s intermodal footprint is predominantly international.
Det tunnel was upgraded in 1994 to accomodate double stack international, but not domestic, containers.
Braden – Yup – West Detroit would be interesting but not terribly accessible from public property. Not that that ever stops railfans, who trespass at junctions such as Fostoria (Ohio). (Oh no not me I’d never do that ….)
This detour should make the more accessible and more pleasant suburbs such as Royal Oak and Troy/ Birmingham more interesting for a few weeks.
I take it Braden that the Detroit – Windsor tunnel has had a clearance upgrade for stacks ??????
Charles Landey.
Don’t believe so. The tunnel is only about 6400’ in length. The Jct. at West Detroit should be interesting over the next few days as CN detours via Windsor/Detroit
Detroit Free Press (freep.com) reports 13,700 gallons of sulphuric acid spilled inside of tunnel.
Question: Are there repeaters for the DPU signal?
Annndddd the DPU kept shoving…fascinating. Long trains were going to bite them in the behind (literally) sooner or later.
When your putting trains of 170-180 cars thru there, and the grades are stiff, something is bound to happen
One thing to note about the Tunnel.. The American side has a pretty stiff grade roughly 2%. Wonder if a penalty application or slack runout/run in caused this.. Back in the early 2000’s Typically 2-3 times a month. Trains coming up the American would snap knuckles. I witnessed it a few times myself.