Derailment shows rail study on track: Axworthy Incident highlights what could have happened with dangerous cargo, residents say By: Chris Kitching Posted: 5:29 PM CST Monday, Dec. 29, 2025 Last Modified: 5:50 PM CST Monday, Dec. 29, 2025 Updates

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This article was published 29/12/2025 (251 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A train derailment involving tank cars near homes and businesses shows why a review of Winnipeg’s urban rail system is needed, former federal transport minister Lloyd Axworthy told the Free Press Monday.

The derailment happened at about 3 a.m. Sunday on a CN Rail main line section that is wedged between newer condos and the Jubilee rapid transit station to the east, and businesses near Pembina Highway and Taylor Avenue to the west.

“In the very short term, we will do our best to get an assessment as to what exactly did happen and why it happened,” said Axworthy, who is leading a two-year rail relocation feasibility study that was commissioned by the Manitoba government in October 2024.

“But I think it does put increasingly more of a focus on how and in what ways can we enhance the safety provisions, and at the same time take a longer-term look about how we eventually may want to find some ways at relocation.”

“We will do our best to get an assessment as to what exactly did happen and why it happened.”

CN Rail spokeswoman Ashley Michnowski said Sunday that 10 rail cars derailed — eight on their side, two upright — with no dangerous goods involved.

Nothing leaked, no one was injured and there was no threat to public safety, Michnowski said.

CN Rail would not say what was inside the derailed cars. The cause of the derailment is being investigated, spokeswoman Michelle Hannan said Monday.

Trains were moving again at the derailment scene, where heavy equipment was used to move the cars that came off the track. Crews continued to clean up Monday, Hannan said.

The derailment was reported to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, spokesman Liam MacDonald said.

“We are currently gathering information and assessing the occurrence, but we have not deployed investigators to the site,” he wrote in an email.

The two-year review by Axworthy’s team is looking at rail systems in and around Winnipeg to identify lines or yards that could be moved out of the city or decommissioned incrementally, at what financial cost and level of complexity, and what freed-up land could potentially be used for.

An early proposal is a four-kilometre pedestrian and cyclist corridor that would replace a track that’s no longer used between Brooklands and the Polo Park area. There has been talk of a possible commuter corridor between Winnipeg and Gimli.

The study’s key objectives include improving safety around existing rail lines and yards, and enhancing emergency preparedness. Freight trains with hazardous goods and passenger trains regularly travel through the city.

Axworthy’s team has reviewed rail disasters, including the runaway train derailment that killed 47 people in Lac-Mégantic, Que., in 2013.

Axworthy himself has met with officials from CN Rail and other railways. He said officials have paid a lot of attention to safety during discussions.

Sunday’s derailment happened in the Fort Rouge constituency held by Premier Wab Kinew, who appointed Axworthy as the study lead.

“You should never be building that close to 12 active tracks.”

The South Osborne Residents’ Group has long had concerns about crude oil and other hazardous goods being transported through the city by train, and new homes being built close to rail lines or yards.

Bev Pike and fellow members advocated for mitigation measures, including berms, for the Lord Roberts area about a decade ago when they opposed a new condo development near CN Rail’s main line.

“You should never be building that close to 12 active tracks, many of which carry hazardous (goods) day and night,” she said Monday.

Pike said she believes a lot of residents support rail relocation. The community must be involved in any decision-making by governments, she said.

CN Rail has said it will work collaboratively with the province on the topic of rail relocation.

After the derailment, some of the overturned tank cars were next to a fence close to commercial buildings on Pembina Highway, causing concern for at least one business owner.

Kristjan Kristjansson, president of Brazen Hall Kitchen & Brewery, said CN Rail’s main line existed when his dad built the restaurant’s predecessor, the Tudor-style Round Table Steakhouse and Pub, in the early 1970s.

He said his father leased the land until the railway sold it years later.

Property owners have coexisted with the line and some challenges, including vibrations from trains, which travel at slower speeds, said Kristjansson.

“We reviewed the entire property, but (the derailment) didn’t damage anything,” he said.

While he supports the idea of rail relocation, Kristjansson questioned whether Winnipeg can afford it.

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Two Via Rail trains were affected by the derailment, which resulted in significant rail traffic congestion in the Winnipeg area, a spokesperson said.

The Via Rail service from Winnipeg to Churchill was held for about four hours. It was eight hours behind schedule as of Monday morning, the spokesperson said.

A second train, travelling from Vancouver to Toronto, was held in Winnipeg, where it departed about 10 hours later than scheduled.

— With files from Katie May

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Chris Kitching
Reporter

Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.

Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.