{"id":806686,"date":"2026-07-16T23:38:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/806686\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T23:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:38:22","slug":"cn-rail-track-in-quebec-had-structural-problems-safety-board-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/806686\/","title":{"rendered":"CN Rail track in Quebec had structural problems, safety board says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Crews clean up a day after a cargo train derailed in Repentigny, Que., on July 6.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

CN Rail says it believes a train derailment in a suburban city northeast of Montreal earlier this month was caused by heat and poorly executed repairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement sent out Thursday afternoon, spokesperson Michelle Hannan said the railway believes the train derailment<\/a> was caused by what the company called a \u201cthermal misalignment of the rail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA thermal misalignment occurs when extreme temperatures cause rail to shift out of alignment,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

The company added that it believes its engineering standards related to rail distressing were not respected when the level crossing was fixed in the spring.<\/p>\n

The company does not believe speed, train handling and mechanical issues caused the derailment.<\/p>\n

\u201cCN will limit its comments regarding the cause of the derailment to this statement,\u201d Hannan said. \u201cWe sincerely apologize to the residents of Repentigny for the disruption and concern caused by this incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

An example of missing and displaced rail anchors near Mile 120.90 is shown in this handout photo provided by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.Supplied\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada released a preliminary safety advisory earlier on Thursday showing it found several deficiencies in the tracks.<\/p>\n

The federal agency deployed a team to investigate the railway tracks after 49 wagons derailed on the edge of a residential area in Repentigny, Que. on July 5.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No injuries were reported and no hazardous materials were spilled, according to the safety board.<\/p>\n

A letter the safety board\u2019s director of rail and pipeline investigations, Vincenzo De Angelis, sent to Transport Canada\u2019s director of rail safety on July 10 says investigators examined the tracks at the site of the derailment and eight other sections over nearly 10 km.<\/p>\n

De Angelis wrote that rail anchors were missing or had displaced in a few areas, while several ties were skewed.<\/p>\n

The advisory also says the rail showed signs of friction from the spikes against the ties, and the rails shifted by as much as almost nine cm in some spots.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMissing or displaced rail anchors could lead to a local redistribution of stresses in the rail and reduce the longitudinal and lateral stability of the track, which could increase the risk of derailment due to track buckling,\u201d De Angelis concluded.<\/p>\n

In his advisory, De Angelis says it was 29 degrees the day the train derailed. The locomotive was travelling southward at 77 km per hour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because of thermal expansion of railways, trains must reduce their speed by 16 km per hour when the temperature reaches 30 degrees.<\/p>\n

De Angelis urged Transport Canada to verify the integrity of the tracts and to inform the safety board of what action, if any, will be taken.<\/p>\n

Repentigny Mayor Nicolas Dufour says the investigators\u2019 findings are troubling, especially as the railroad line runs through a residential neighbourhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dilapidated state of the rail infrastructure \u2013 that is extremely concerning. CN has the power to fix this, so it should do so as quickly as possible,\u201d he said in a phone interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an e-mail, Transport Canada spokesperson Hicham Ayoun said the department is working with the safety board and its rail inspectors to ensure all necessary safety measures are in place.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the railway must maintain a reduced operating speed of 16 km per hour through the affected area until post-repair inspections are done, Ayoun said.<\/p>\n

Dufour said he wants the federal transportation department to put operations on hold until the necessary repairs are made. The Repentigny city council unanimously adopted a motion on Tuesday calling on the minister to consider permanently reducing speed limits on freight trains in residential areas.<\/p>\n

With the findings in the safety advisory, Dufour says the city\u2019s request \u201cis more than legitimate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dufour said he is relieved to see the safety board handling the case \u201cwith great rigour\u201d and transparency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The safety board says its investigation is ongoing and may result in recommendations to address safety deficiencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Crews clean up a day after a cargo train derailed in Repentigny, Que.,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-806686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}