A privately owned freight train serving the Diageo distillery in Gimli derailed just north of Road 229 near Winnipeg Beach on Thursday, March 19.
Crews work to rerail a locomotive after a freight train serving the Diageo distillery derailed just north of Road 229 in Winnipeg Beach on March 19. No injuries or environmental concerns were reported
No injuries were reported and officials confirmed there are no environmental concerns related to the incident.
The appropriate authorities were contacted immediately following the derailment, and crews were on site working to return the railcars to the track. The locomotive was successfully rerailed by 3:30 p.m. Friday.
Winter conditions can contribute to derailments if snow or ice interferes with rail components such as switches or crossings, though the exact cause of the incident has not been confirmed.
Each railcar operates on steel wheelsets — pairs of wheels connected by an axle and guided by an inner flange — which can leave the rails due to factors such as track defects, equipment issues or alignment problems.
The distillery is serviced by the Lake Line Railroad, a short-line railway that operates the former Canadian Pacific Winnipeg Beach subdivision between Selkirk and Gimli.
The line connects with the national rail network at Selkirk, allowing shipments to move to and from the distillery, one of the key customers on the route.
Originally part of Canadian Pacific’s network, the line was purchased in 2012 by a local group to maintain rail service in the Interlake region after CP considered abandoning it.
No cause of the derailment has been confirmed.
