A beaver dam that overflowed and washed out nearby tracks on the Moosehead rail line in northern Somerset County was responsible for a Canadian Pacific freight train derailment nearly two years ago, according to the company.
The circumstances of the derailment were detailed in an environmental restoration application that was submitted to the Maine Land Use Planning Commission.
Three Canadian Pacific Kansas City locomotives and six freight train cars derailed in Sandwich Academy Grant Township in April 2023.
The derailment caused fuel, hydraulic fluid and engine oil from the cars to the spill into the Moose River and surrounding areas. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection oversaw soil remediation at the derailment site and then transferred oversight of the remaining restoration efforts to the Land Use Planning Commission.
Canadian Pacific replaced the culverts under the railroad crossings, according to LUPC regulators.
And last summer, the freight company began work to restore the stream leading to Little Brassua Lake and the surrounding wetlands, and stabilize erosion and prevent future washouts at the site.
Maine Forest Service officials and state regulators visited the site late last year and say remediation work was completed in December. The enforcement case against Canadian Pacific has been closed, the LUPC said in a letter to the freight company.
