A VIA Rail train carrying 124 passengers derailed in Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska during the night of January 12, 2026, after striking one of two truck trailers that had been backed too far into the yard of Aliments Asta, a meat-processing facility located near Route 289.
The two trucks and their trailers, positioned close to the railway line, were partially extending onto the rail right-of-way when a train travelling from Montreal to Halifax arrived and collided with one of the units, causing the locomotives and several cars to derail.
No passengers or truck drivers were injured despite the severity of the impact.
According to early information, both trailers went beyond the boundaries of the yard without the drivers noticing. When the train entered the track section, it struck one of the trailers, triggering the derailment and scattering debris across a wide area. The investigation is ongoing, and Transport Canada—along with provincial authorities—seeks to determine how two trailers ended up positioned partly over an active rail line.
The incident also raises questions about preventive measures around railway corridors, particularly the lack of physical barriers or protective structures—such as fencing or concrete blocks—that could prevent vehicles from exceeding the property limit. These points are now part of broader industry reflections as the details of the manoeuvre continue to be clarified.
At least one of the two trucks was branded with Harman Group (HGC) markings, according to photos taken at the scene. This is the same carrier linked to a deadly 2022 pile-up in which a mother and her young son were killed.
Marc Cadieux, president of the Quebec Trucking Association, expressed strong concerns during an interview on 98.5 FM.
“We rely far too often on inexperienced labour. This company was involved in an accident with a driver who left the scene after an incident, after killing two people, Nancy Lefrançois, 42, and her son Loïc, in a pile-up. That person was brought back to Canada under an international warrant and appeared at the Longueuil courthouse last summer. So there are a lot of questions to ask ourselves…”
A full walk-around inspection of the trucks and trailers would likely have revealed that the units were encroaching onto the tracks. But another issue raised by Cadieux is the absence of Quebec Road Controllers (CRQ) during on-site verifications.
“It is sad to say that in this incident, no call was made to the commercial vehicle inspectors to carry out, obviously, a more exhaustive investigation. It’s a constabulary body with authority in our industry, properly trained, and every time there is an incident, it’s the first thing I ask: were the Road Controllers invited to carry out certain compliance checks? And often, I’m told no—the police didn’t call them.”
Many industry observers have long expressed concerns that this carrier operates under the “Drivers Inc.” low-cost labour model. If this is confirmed for the drivers involved in the derailment, the debate over safety and workforce practices could escalate significantly.
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