A VIA Rail passenger train came to a sudden stop around 8 p.m. Sunday night after it struck debris on the tracks.
The incident happened as it approached the bridge at Fischer-Hallman Road, south of Glasgow Street area. The train was heading westbound to Stratford after stopping at the Kitchener train station at Weber and Victoria Streets.
Police say it appears someone, most likely a group of people, deliberately created a dangerous condition by placing a length of rail on the tracks.
Waterloo Regional Police spokesperson Olaf Heizel says the incident is suspicious, "We're treating this as an intentional act for the time being but we're still looking into all the circumstances to determine whether this could have happened accidentally."
The heavy chunk of rail could have weighed as much as 1000 pounds. Authorities say the train struck the rail, splitting it into two, 500 pound pieces and sending them flying. The rail was found embedded into the ground alongside the tracks.
Neighbours are thankful the large chunk of railway didn't cause serious harm. "It could have been a lot worse and I'm sure those people on that train were a little scared, I'm sure it was frightening for them", says Laurie Sloan, who lives nearby.
The train remained on the tracks after the collision and no injuries were reported. Heinzel says it's estimated that the train sustained about $200 worth of damage.
"It could have been disastrous, we did see some damage to the train but it could have been disastrous for anybody who might have been nearby."
The area is known to police but mostly for minor incidents of mischief. Sloan says crimes like this go beyond the normal scope of mischievous behavior for the neighbourhood, "anybody that did that thinking that was funny has got a problem."
Rail service resumed shortly after the incident.
