FORT FRANCES — A railway bridge just outside Fort Frances has collapsed.
Photos posted on social media on the afternoon of Aug. 14 show a pile of twisted metal and a damaged railway track on the Rainy River Rail Lift Bridge, more commonly known as the Five-Mile Bridge.
Owned by CN, the bridge is on the Canadian side of Rainy Lake's Sand Bay, near the Noden Causeway.
Al Boivin, the owner/operator of Rainy Lake Boat Taxi, posted a message stating: "Well that’s the end of the 100-plus-year-old lift bridge. It collapsed this afternoon. Won’t be in operation for a long time."
In a brief statement to Dougall Media early Wednesday evening, CN said its crews had responded to "an incident" involving a railway bridge northeast of Fort Frances that connects its network to the Port of Thunder Bay.
"Initial reports indicate the waterway is impassable to marine traffic," the railway stated.
It added that no trains were involved in the incident, and that the cause is under investigation.
However, there are reports that the bridge collapsed shortly after a train crossed it and while the automated system was in the process of raising it to allow boats to pass below.
Dougall Media reached out to CN for clarification, but the company said it would have no further comment for now.
Boivin operates a boat taxi service and barge service based about half a kilometre from the bridge and about eight kilometres from Fort Frances.
In an interview, he noted that the bridge crosses a waterway that connects the north and south arms of Rainy Lake.
Until it's repaired, he said, "the tall boats like my barge, and sailboats, houseboats and anything over eight-feet high won't be able to make it" between the two parts of the lake.
