The Desjardins Canal disaster was a rail transport disaster which occurred near Hamilton, Ontario. The train wreck occurred at 6:15 p.m. on March 12, 1857 when a train on the Great Western Railway crashed through a bridge over the Desjardins Canal, causing the train and its passengers to fall 60 feet into the ice below. With 59 deaths, it is considered one of the worst rail disasters in Canadian history.