UPDATED: This story has been updated as new information was provided while the story was being processed online.
The CN Rail main track leading south out of Capreol was out of service for part of the weekend owing to a washout of the rail roadbed. No information is available yet on how the washout occurred, but it did not appear to cause any damage to CN trains or cause any injury. The washout occurred near an area known as Greens Lake Rapids.
CN said maintenance teams "responded to a minor incident near Capreol." CN said workers responded promptly and safely and the tracks were reopened Saturday morning.
One local social media video posting was made Friday evening at about 7 p.m. showing three CN employees inspecting the washout just west of Regional Road 82 (old Highway 69N) and maybe 50 metres south of the Hanna Avenue turnoff. For CN, the area is described as part of the Bala Subdivision. The section of CN track was running parallel to the nearby highway.
The video showed a large gap of about two metres in height, beneath the existing rails. The washout itself might have been about five or six metres wide, with high water reaching almost up to the roadway.
Another social media video taken later Friday evening, shows the area bathed in high intensity work lights with workers on the scene where a section of track had been removed.
By Saturday afternoon, the water level had gone down considerably. The section of track had been replaced and beneath it, the roadbed was shored up with many boulders along with fresh ground fill. Water was flowing freely from one culvert while an excavator was working apparently to repair a second culvert.
