Freight train derails in Saskatchewan, leaks oil

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A Canadian National Railway Co westbound freight train derailed near the town of Landis, in the Western Canadian province of Saskatchewan, early Wednesday morning, sending 17 cars off the track, one of which was leaking lube oil, a company spokesman said. There were no injuries and a small grass fire sparked by the derailment was extinguished, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has sent an investigator to the site, west of the city of Saskatoon. CN said two cars carrying condensate, three cars carrying lube oil, one car of ethanol and 11 cars carrying mixed freight came off the tracks in the early morning accident. The RCMP had previously said 16 cars were involved. "One of the derailed cars is leaking lube oil. Crews have immediately begun a process using vacuum trucks to contain and reclaim the leaking product," CN spokesman Warren Chandler said. There were no details on how much lube oil had leaked or how long it would take to clean up. Canadian rail shipments have been under scrutiny since a disaster in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, in July, in which a runaway train carrying crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken field derailed and exploded, killing 47 and destroying the town's center. The disaster, which followed a series of smaller spills, focused attention on ever-rising volumes of crude shipments on Canadian railroads. Canadian crash investigators have already called for tougher rules for the transport of dangerous goods. (Reporting by Nia Williams, Scott Haggett and Solarina Ho; Editing by Janet Guttsman, Steve Orlofsky and Peter Galloway)