Accident monitoring
We monitor all rail accidents involving crude oil in Canada.
We are currently monitoring four accidents.
- It is unlikely that the Rail Fund will be activated by any of these accidents.
- The St. Lazare, Manitoba monitoring file shown below was closed in February 2025 after the accident date reached the six-year time limit.
We monitor rail accidents involving crude oil to identify emerging trends and keep up to date with compensation challenges or concerns.
We keep our monitoring files open for 6 years for the following reasons:
- If lawsuits are started against a railway company for damages, we become a party to the lawsuit under the law.
- Given that the railway company involved in an accident is the first to pay, we keep records to be able to redirect potential claimants to the relevant railway’s claims department.
One way that we track rail accidents is by analyzing all notifications we receive from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
The Guernsey, Saskatchewan (Lanigan) derailment site following the 2019 accident. Image from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
Map of accidents monitored in 2024-2025
We are currently monitoring four rail accidents.
1. St. Lazare, Manitoba
The monitoring file was closed in February 2025
February 16, 2019
- CN involved
- 37 cars carrying crude oil derailed
- 14 cars leaked about 820,000 litres of crude oil
- Oil spilled into a pond used to water cattle
- TSB investigation completed (R19W0050)
2. Barwick, Ontario
May 4, 2019
- CN involved
- Six cars carrying crude oil derailed
- No leaks
3. Guernsey (Lanigan), Saskatchewan
December 9, 2019
- CPKC involved
- 19 cars leaked about 1.5 million litres of crude oil
- No waterways were affected
- TSB investigation completed (R19W0320)
4. Guernsey, Saskatchewan
February 6, 2020
- CPKC involved
- 32 cars derailed, 19 cars caught fire
- About 1.6 million litres of crude oil released
- 85 residents evacuated
- TSB investigation ongoing (R20W0025)
5. Emo, Ontario
February 18, 2020
- CN involved
- 26 cars carrying crude oil derailed
- Six cars leaked about 320,000 litres of crude oil
- Six homes evacuated
- Transportation Safety Board investigation completed (R20W0031)
