CN officials to meet residents in Repentigny town hall on train derailment

Officials from Canadian National Rail (CN) are expected to participate in a town hall meeting with residents of Repentigny on Monday following a train derailment in a residential neighbourhood earlier this summer.

The company officials are expected to brief residents about the derailment on July 5 and actions the railway has taken since, according to Repentigny Mayor Nicholas Dufour.

While there were no injuries or leak of dangerous substances from the derailment, the incident left the community shaken, especially coming on the eve of the 13th anniversary of another rail disaster in Lac Mégantic in which 47 people were killed following an oil leak and an explosion.

Following the accident in Repentigny, CN crews spent several days clearing the debris on and around the tracks before trains resumed service starting at slower speeds on July 9.

Company representatives also went door-to-door to reassure anxious residents after trains started running again.

Dufour said on Monday, CN officials will also present their findings on what led to the accident.

A preliminary investigation by federal authorities had found several deficiencies on the tracks around where the 172-car freight train went off the rails.

In its July 16 report, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said that an initial assessment showed several anchors that hold the rails together were missing or had shifted across key segments of the tracks, leading to unstable rails. The TSB report also found that the train carried dangerous chemical residue but had not leaked when 46 cars derailed.

Reports by La Presse indicated that CN and Transport Canada were aware of deterioration of the track near the crash site as early as 2023. A citizen-led initiative had flagged to CN about rails sagging by several centimetres as well as noise and vibrations noticeable by neighbourhood residents when trains passed.

The company, however, had blamed “a thermal misalignment of the rail” causing shifting of the tracks following high summer temperatures in the days before the incident.

“CN believes that this was caused by the misapplication of the Company’s engineering standards related to rail distressing during the work that was conducted on the level crossing in the spring of 2026,” the company told CityNews. “At this stage, CN does not believe speed, train handling and mechanical issues were causes of the derailment.”

The incident had also sparked a debate around the safety of railway lines in populated centres, with the Repentigny city council adopting a motion calling on the transport minister to consider permanently reducing speed limits on freight trains in residential areas.

Dufour said Monday’s forum would provide an opportunity for residents to have their concerns listened to and addressed by the railway company.