Canadian National Railway Co. trains are shown at the CN MacMillan Yard in Vaughan, Ont., on June 20, 2022.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Canadian National Railway Co. CNR-T suspended freight service on its main line through Jasper, Alta., and other companies took stock of the impact from the wildfire that devastated large parts of the mountain town.
Among other major infrastructure in the region, Trans Mountain Corp. said Thursday that its oil pipeline remained in operation despite the chaotic fire situation, while Telus Corp. suffered some damage to its equipment and was working to restore landline and mobile service.
CN had briefly resumed train traffic on Wednesday after suspending it a day earlier because of the fire threat. It halted service again later in the day as the flames, whipped up by high winds, advanced quickly.
The town of Jasper and the national park in which it is situated were ordered evacuated late on Monday, forcing as many as 25,000 residents and tourists to flee. The municipality of Jasper and Parks Canada are responding to the incident jointly in a unified command arrangement. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said Canadian Armed Forces personnel are being deployed to assist.
“The wildfire situation in Jasper is dynamic and fluid,” CN spokesperson Ashley Michnowski said in a statement on Thursday. “As conditions worsened yesterday afternoon, CN suspended rail operations in co-ordination with the unified command centre.”
Mayor of Jasper says wildfire destruction ‘beyond description and comprehension’
Ms. Michnowski said CN is co-ordinating with the centre and other parties that are responding to the fire, and is monitoring weather and fire patterns closely.
The economic impact of the interruption in freight and commodity shipments was not immediately known. CN’s tracks extend to the West Coast ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, and East across the country.
Delays in the movement of goods are expected at the Port of Vancouver in the coming days as a result of the disruption, port spokesman Alex Munro said. An increase in anchorage use at the port and southern B.C. is also probable, he said.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and work with our supply-chain partners to ensure Canada’s trade can continue to move safely and efficiently,” Mr. Munro said.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. CP-T, which runs the southern Canadian main line, said its operations were not affected by wildfires that are burning across British Columbia.
Parks Canada had said Wednesday night that firefighters were working to save as many structures as possible in Jasper and to protect critical infrastructure, including the wastewater plant, communications facilities and the Trans Mountain oil pipeline, which runs through the park and adjacent to the town.
Trans Mountain said Thursday that there was no indication of damage to its infrastructure, and the pipeline system was operating safely. The company said it was using its own firefighting equipment in Jasper and bringing in water for a sprinkler system that protects its facilities, which are newly expanded to carry 890,000 barrels a day to the Pacific Coast.
Telus said some of its communications infrastructure was damaged in the blaze, disrupting home-phone service and mobile customers in the region, which includes the Columbia Icefield highway between Jasper and Lake Louise, Alta.
“Our technicians have restored service in the Columbia Icefield, and are working around the clock in close partnership with local authorities to provide connectivity to first responders and displaced residents,” Telus spokesperson Brandi Merker said in a statement.
The company is securing the use of helicopters to refuel cellular-tower sites, and brought in generators to maintain communications coverage for first responders, she said.
ATCO Energy Systems supplies power and natural gas to Jasper. Operators turned off the natural-gas distribution service to the town on Wednesday, and isolated the natural-gas transmission line at a valve just south of the Athabasca River, communications manager Kurt Kadatz said in an e-mail.
Electricity remained on in the community Wednesday to support firefighting efforts, but Mr. Kadatz said power to the town was ultimately disrupted later that afternoon.
“Until we are able to safely re-enter the community to complete a full assessment, we won’t know the extent of the damage to our infrastructure,” he said.
VIA Rail, the Crown-owned passenger service that operates on the CN main line through Jasper, said it has stopped operating through that corridor as well. It normally operates eight trains per week. Currently, it is only offering regional service between Toronto and Edmonton and between Prince Rupert and Prince George, B.C., VIA said in a statement.