No one was injured when several CP Rail cars carrying coal went off the CN railway tracks near Burnaby Lake in B.C.'s Lower Mainland Saturday morning.

Nine rail cars carrying coal went off the tracks in Burnaby, B.C., near Burnaby Lake Saturday morning, with three of the cars fully tipped over. Police said no one was hurt and there was no further risk to the public, but Cariboo Road was closed to north-south traffic. (Deborah Goble/CBC)

Burnaby RCMP Staff Sgt. Wayne Baier said police got a call about the derailment just before 11 a.m. PT and arrived at the intersection of Cariboo Road and Government Street to find nine of the 152 rail cars off the rails. Six of the cars were upright, but three had tipped over and the contents were spilling out.

"The only contents of the car was coal," he said. "There's been some of the contents have fallen in a nearby stream. We've got a hold of the Ministry of Environment that oversees that issue, and I believe they are responding."

Baier said there was obvious damage to the rail tracks, cars and the immediate surroundings but that no one was hurt and the derailment posed no further risk.

"There is no safety concern to the general public," he said.

Rain could have been a factor

Baier said he received some information that last night's torrential rain may have played a possible factor.

"It's too early to confirm that, but that may have had an effect on the ground underneath the tracks," Baier said.

Police closed Cariboo Road to north-south traffic near the intersection until just before 3 p.m. while the scene was assessed.

RCMP said Canada's Transportation Safety Board would be the lead agency to investigate the derailment.

Earlier this week, a CN freight train jumped the tracks and caught fire near the village of Plaster Rock, N.B., forcing 150 people to leave their homes.

In that incident, CN said 17 of the train's 122 cars derailed, and some of them were carrying crude oil and propane.

Map: Train tracks at northeast corner of Burnaby Lake