The National Transport Safety board says the train derailment in Hochelaga Maisonneuve Thursday was caused by a runaway train.
The TSB is investigating the possibility that not all the hand brakes on the rail cars had been properly set, a situation reminiscent of what led to the tragedy in Lac Megantic.
Twenty-six empty rail cars had been parked on the line since last December, and on Thursday about a dozen of them began to roll down the tracks, eventually derailing near Terrasse Thomas Valin.
Nobody was hurt, and damage was minimal, although it was a close call for Gabriel Serbanescu.
He and his family were at home when one car landed in their yard, and on its way it brought down a tree. The wreck punched a hole about a metre across in the brick facade of his garage.
Serbanescu said there has always been traffic on the railway, but that it has increased considerably in recent years.
"When I bought the house I noticed this traffic every day. In time it doubled," he said.
The wreckage has been removed from the side of the tracks and Serbanescu's yard, and CP informed the family that it will pay for the repairs.
The incident renews calls for closer monitoring of how dangerous materials are transported on rail roads.
“We want to have the data. I mean when something passes [through Montreal], we want the data,” says Mayor Denis Coderre.
Canadian Pacific is now considering a criminal investigation into the possibility that someone tampered with the brakes on the railway cars.
