THUNDER BAY — The likelihood that the Muskeg Express train ride at Centennial Park will return to service this season is virtually nil.
A city official says a lot more work is needed to determine what caused the popular ride to derail on Aug. 7, the same day it resumed operation for the first time since 2019.
No one was hurt.
"I'd like to apologize to the public for going through these openings and having this kind of disappointment, especially with limited things being available, said Cory Halvorsen, manager of parks and open spaces for the city.
"This is the last thing we wanted to have it turn out that way. Staff are committed to getting this resolved, but 'frustrating' is a good word."
Halvorsen said it's not realistic to expect the cause of the derailment will be pinpointed, and the necessary changes made, before the seasonal staff who operate the train leave after the Labour Day weekend.
He said the city continues to work with consultants to figure out what caused the derailment.
"It could be the rails themselves may have a bit of an edge to them that is allowing [the wheels] to possibly ride up on the rail...That's one element but there are two physical components, the wheel and the rail."
He said there are adjustments that could be made to the wheel, but nothing that can be done without collecting more information.
"We're going to be running the train around the track, and we'll be making visual observations of the wheels interacting with the rails. We just need to get this resolved so there's no chance of this happening again," Halvorsen added. "We don't want to rush it."
The province's Technical Standards and Safety Authority, which authorized the train's return to service after $50,000 worth of changes were made, will have to be asked to give its approval again.
"We put priority on trying to get the ride open for this season. We were very optimistic that we had resolved the issues...We did test it ahead of time. Now we have one more event to inform us, and we'll use that information to get this resolved once and for all," Halvorsen said.
The Muskeg Express was out of service in 2017 due to problems with the track.
Changes were made, but it was shut down again in 2018 after two derailments in three weeks.
In 2019, the train operated for seven weeks of its eight-week season until a derailment that happened under similar circumstances to the incident this month.
"It was on a small corner [of the track], no real indication as to why it would have done that, so we're using all of these examples to rule everything out and correct everything," Halvorsen said.
Asked if there is a risk that the cost of more repairs could result in the train's permanent removal from service, he said "If we did come across something with a significant financial impact, then I would have to bring it forward."
However, Halvorsen added that at this point in the investigation "that's not what we are seeing."
