© Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
A Canadian Pacific freight train sits derailed on a failing bridge over the Bow River in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, June 27, 2013.
A collapsing Calgary rail bridge appears to have "stabilized somewhat," city officials say, but five cars carrying a flammable, diesel-like substance remain stranded and at risk of falling into the Bow River.
Officials now hope to use heavy cables to secure the final five cars, as well as a sixth empty one, and keep them out of the river.
"The last thing we want is these cars running down the river, and causing problems downstream at other bridges or anything else," Acting Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc said Thursday morning, after earlier stressing: "Right now, the public is safe."
Emergency crews evacuated an 800-metre radius of the site after the 3:30 a.m. derailment. The evacuated section includes a section of Deerfoot Trail, a major Calgary thoroughfare. That closure will further leave traffic in near-gridlock in Alberta's biggest city, as flooding closures were already causing extensive delays.
The CP rail train was mostly over the bridge early Thursday morning when its crew noticed it had partially derailed. They called 911.
There were no injuries and no leaks are yet reported, CP spokesman Ed Greenberg said in an e-mail. "The cause is under investigation," he added.
Crews are setting up booms downstream, to catch some of the diesel-like substance if it is ultimately spilled.
