Sparks from the locomotive exhaust likely ignited a fire aboard a freight train that drove through London three weeks ago, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada says.

The crew aboard the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) train on April 21 became aware of a fire on the train somewhere between Strathroy-Caradoc and London, board spokesperson Hugo Fontaine said Wednesday.

“They immediately stopped and cut away from the tail end of their train, isolating the six open top gondola cars,” Fontaine said in a statement, adding the crew then pulled the flaming cars to a crossing at Waterloo Street, where there was a commercial fire hydrant.

“The crew then separated the locomotives from the gondola cars.”

Fire crews were already on the scene when the flaming train arrived, after multiple citizens called 911 to report an eastbound CPKC train on fire along Oxford Street near Cherryhill Village Mall about 10:45 p.m. Firefighters intercepted the train on Pall Mall Street, just east of Richmond Street, where they used water and foam to suppress the flames, the fire department has said.

The fire caused an estimated $10,000 damage to a building at Pall Mall and Waterloo streets, and $25,000 damage to the five steel train cars that were hauling wooden railway ties, the London fire department said. Nobody was injured.

“The fire department indicated the fire was fully contained, and there was nothing within the nearby vicinity or right of way that was combustible, therefore there was little to no risk to the public,” Fontaine said. “The cause of the fire was likely sparks from the locomotive exhaust along with the air flow of the moving train causing the fire to spread rearward to each subsequent car.”

The safety board didn’t provide details on how it drew its conclusions.

“Any and all relevant information obtained under the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act is confidential, as such we will not be sharing any further details as to specifics of this incident,” Fontaine said in an email.

The safety board has classified the incident as a Class 5 investigation, meaning there won’t be a comprehensive probe followed by a public report. Instead, data from the incident will be used for future safety analysis, statistical reporting and archival purposes.

The April 21 train fire made national headlines and sparked a flurry of social media posts about the flaming train.

The update from the federal transportation safety agency comes just over a week after several London city councilors said they wanted more information from CPKC, the Calgary-based railway company resulting from the 2023 merger of Canadian Pacific Railway and Kansas City Southern.

CPKC didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Source: London freight train fire likely caused by sparks: Safety board | London Free Press