Train derails, then track disappears on fateful trip to Churchill

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This article was published 18/8/2010 (3109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DERAILMENTS and submerged train tracks — all in a day's trip for passengers on board a Via Rail train headed to Churchill earlier this week.

Those snafus forced two major delays of a Via Rail passenger train that left Winnipeg for the Polar Bear Capital of the World Sunday night.

The 57 people on board were first stranded around Lady Lake, about four kilometres south of The Pas, after the train's wheels came off the track, Via spokeswoman Elizabeth Huart said.

No one was injured and the cause of the derailment is still under investigation, she said.

Passengers were taken by bus from Lady Lake to The Pas where a new train was waiting for them.

However, the train was again delayed at Gillam Tuesday morning, for about six hours, as tracks were completely submerged due to high water.

The train arrived in Churchill Wednesday morning, about 23 hours late. The 1,700-kilometre trip usually takes about two days.

Huart said the company works with intangibles it can't control in the Manitoba wilderness.

"It's a tough terrain. It's hard to keep a tight schedule there because of that," she said.