Alex Kurial/Local Journalism Initiative

The demolition at the former Lambton Generating Station is ramping up and residents are going to notice.

The newly hired demolition team will be removing thousands of tonnes of steel and other scrap metal and all of that will be heading along the rail line which has not seen this much traffic in recent memory.

Demolition of the plant which closed in 2013 had stalled recently. JMX Contracting was working on site but went bankrupt shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
The job was taken over by Delsan-AIM. The company has said decommissioning of the plant should be complete by the end of 2022.

To accommodate the scrap removal, the CSX rail spur located on the OPG site will be reactivated. Rail cars began moving along the rail spur this week and are expected to run until Dec. 2021.

Project Manager Ralph Curitti says six rail cars will leave the site two or three times a week. Trains will run between 7 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday.

“It could be as high as 100 cars a month,” says Mayor Steve Arnold of extra train traffic.
St. Clair Township councillors considered increased safety measures but decided since the tracks are already in use, people will just exercise the usual caution.

“It’s a better way than having a bunch of truck traffic on the roads,” says Councillor Pat Brown.

The rail cars will run north from the OPG plant, passing through Courtright, Mooretown and Corunna before heading up to Sarnia.