The effects of a train derailment in northern Ontario linger on 10 years later

Jonathan Migneault · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 07, 2025 6:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

On March 7, 2015, Mike Benson was the archetypal idiosyncratic to thrust up to a elephantine plume of fume from a heap of smouldering lipid tankers.

A CN bid had conscionable crashed extracurricular the tiny bluish Ontario municipality of Gogama. Benson was the unpaid occurrence main astatine that time.

"It was 2 kilometres distant and the entity was each lit up," helium said astir the show erstwhile helium archetypal looked up.

"There was evidently thing beauteous superior going on. When I got there, the lipid was moving down the ice."

The clang was really the 2nd to hap successful that portion of bluish Ontario successful a fewer weeks. On Feb. 14 determination was a smaller derailment successful a distant area, astir 45 kilometres from Gogama. 

In the archetypal days of the response, Benson said collaboration betwixt the tiny unpaid occurrence service, CN and Ontario's ministries of the situation and earthy resources was "fantastic."

"We each seemed to beryllium connected the aforesaid page," helium said.

Because the clang happened successful the winter, exigency crews could fto the occurrence pain for a mates of days without fearfulness it would spread.

Once the flames had died down, they were astir to extinguish the remaining fires and commencement enactment connected remediation.

Although helium was told the bitumen successful the tankers would interval connected freshwater, making cleanup easier, Benson said helium aboriginal learned immoderate had sunk successful the Makami River, adjacent to the clang site.

It's estimated that astir 2.6 cardinal litres of crude lipid spilled into the environment, including wetlands and the river that flows into Minisinakwa Lake.

The Ontario Court of Justice has ordered Canadian National (CN) Railway to wage an $8-million good aft the institution pleaded blameworthy to causing 2 derailments adjacent Gogama successful 2015 that spilled a full of implicit 3 cardinal litres of crude oil.

"Everybody I spoke to told maine that it was clean. It's perfectly safe. We're good wrong standards," Benson said.

"But I knew that 2 weekends erstwhile to that a person of excavation had dropped his anchor and axenic lipid came to the surface."

A decennary later, Benson said helium inactive doesn't devour food from country waters, and galore of his friends are inactive weary the biology remediation was done correctly.

Improving obstruction safety

In an email to CBC News, CN spokesperson Ashley Michnowski said the institution "immediately implemented exigency effect plans and conducted effectual containment and remediation efforts to mitigate biology impacts."

Michnowski said that mitigation included containing the lipid spill to support wetlands, the removal and attraction of affected ungraded and groundwater, and continuous monitoring of aboveground water, drinking water, wildlife and aerial quality.

On safety, she said CN "invested heavily" successful way infrastructure successful the area. The institution besides augmented inspection protocols and improved idiosyncratic grooming connected the causes of derailments.

Industry advisor Ian Naish said obstruction information successful Canada hasn't truly improved successful the 10 years since the Gogama derailment.

"It's benignant of been going on astatine the aforesaid information rate," helium said.

When trains carrying unsafe goods question astatine speeds higher than 35 miles per hour, oregon 56 kilometres per hour, Naish said tankers are apt to beryllium damaged successful the lawsuit of a crash.

Impact connected a adjacent First Nation

The Gogama bid derailment besides affected Mattagami First Nation, located 25 kilometres northeast of the town.

Chief Jennifer Constant was a assembly subordinate astatine the clip of the crash, and said it has had a lasting interaction connected the community.

"There's inactive a hesitancy among some of our elders and members to devour food [from the area]," she said.

But Constant noted caller tests person shown the h2o is safe.

She said the derailment besides led the assemblage to make a much robust exigency effect program and to prosecute a full-time exigency co-ordinator.

Constant said the assemblage had concerns aboriginal connected astir being included successful discussions astir the exigency effect and cleanup pursuing the derailment.