# Major train event in Lac-Megantic,Quebec



## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

At 1:20 AM EST,a Montreal Maine & Atlantic train transporting crude oil derailed in Lac-Megantic,Quebec.The incident was followed by six consecutive explosions destroying a large part of downtown with an unknown number of casualties so far.

Municipal library along with a number of stores are said to have been litterally wiped out by the explosions,including a popular bar that was apparently full of people at the time.No official report yet as fire is still raging.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

An update on this news...
It is confirmed by a company official that the train was remotely controlled,so no operateor was on board the train at the time.It seems that it is a normal way to do in this specific situation...weird at least.
According to news people,a cafe was crowded at the time.Also,there were residents living on second floors of the destroyed stores,who were likely in bed,so heavy casualty count is to be expected.
Apparently,according to witnesses,the train was going much faster than the 10 PMH limit of this part of the track.It is also said that the track was very poorly maintained in this area.A major inquiry will likely follow,I guess...


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## Carl (Feb 19, 2012)

News coverage showed the very large area that was damaged or totally destroyed. There were reports of a heavily populated tavern or bar that was near ground zero.....they have no idea what may have happened to those folks . The crude oil was reported to contain high levels of the light ends of petroleum, thus the rail cars exploding and extremely high levels so heat, such that fire fighters have had to sand back somewhat until the fire cools.

What a sad event and my prayers go out to all effected.


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## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

Wow. Terrible fire and loss of life! Surprised that the train was "remotely controlled" with no one on board. It's against the law where I live to leave almost anything with an engine running with no operator is at the controls, even big rigs and equipment in winter months. My thoughts and prayers are with the injured and families of the deceased. I imagine some "normal" ways of doing things are going to change.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

As usual with such tragic events,information is not necessarily revealed to the public right away.However,what seems that happened as infos are revealed is that the train wasn't remotely controlled as was said before.

The truth,if it is,has a logic though there's a good part of mistery behind it.It's been reported that the locomotive (or one of them) has had a fire on board (fuel line rupture) two hours earlier eleven kms. away that was put out quickly and that the train was left there then,awaiting for a new crew.

It's also been reported that the leaving crew had made sure that the train was safe (brakes applied,etc) before leaving wich raises the big question...what really happened afterwards?

One true fact is that there's an important climb between where the train was left (Nante) and Lac-Megantic (up to 8% on one spot) so that explains the train's high speed wich some witnesses estimate at 60 MPH,way over the 10 MPH limit in this area.

Were the brakes defective?Could they release by themselves?Had the on board fire anything to do with this?Or did someone climb into the unoccupied train and played with the controls?All theorys right now and it probably will be months before the real truth is known.

Authorities don't report any but one casualty so far as there's no way to know was or wasn't there but many of the residents interviewed said they expect a high count as over fifty people are still not accounted for.


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## MacDaddy55 (Aug 19, 2008)

*Tragic!!*

New York Times reported obsolete Tank cars that should have been replaced 20yrs ago, the new way of transporting oil from Western US to refinery destinations, Big money involved in this type of transport as it is enviormentally cheaper means....and the tragic loss of life...WOW!! Those people asleep in their apartments,people in the tavern/cafe, gone in a flash...again tragic...and someones gonna pay!!


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Confirmed facts...
-There were five locos heading this freight,72 tankers in tow with 42 involved in the derailment.
-Train had been stopped eleven kms. earlier (in Nante,Que.) due to an on-board fire in one of the engines.
-Nante's firemen confirm they've been called at 11:30PM.Intervention took 45 min.They also confirm that they had to shut the engine off to extinguish the fire,wich was caused by a fuel line rupture.And lastly,they reported leaving the area after MMA employees had told them everything was under control.They have no idea what happened after.
-For an unknown reason yet,the train started moving by itself (seemingly not powered and obviously with no one aboard) and proceeded towards Lac-Megantic at a constantly increasing speed as this area is a constant downhill.
-Trackage in Lac-Megantic area is speed restricted (10 PMH) because of its poor condition.Witnesses say they feel the train was well over this speed,likely 60 MPH.

Rumors...
-MMA's equipment in poor condition throughout.
-Five bodies found so far,estimation around forty still missing.Officials say that fire was so hot that many bodies probably are probably totally consumed.

Preliminary comments from MMA (Former Bangor&Aroostook) tend to blame Nante's firemen for turning off the engine wich supposedly stopped air supply to the train's brakes...go figure.......


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## Carl (Feb 19, 2012)

The news is now saying 14 dead. I hope the lessons learned from this tragic event will be used to prevent any future accidents of this kind.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Local news say 13 dead,still 35 reported missing.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

Brakeman Jake said:


> One true fact is that there's an important climb between where the train was left (Nante) and Lac-Megantic (*up to 8% on one spot* [emphasis added]) so that explains the train's high speed wich some witnesses estimate at 60 MPH,way over the 10 MPH limit in this area.


I highly doubt that 8%. 0.8% maybe. I've never heard of an 8% grade on any railway. That would be considered worse than insane, and 30 years ago this trackage was Canadian Pacific's main line from Montreal to St John, NB.

For comparison, Saluda Grade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saluda_Grade), billed as the steepest standard gauge railway grade in the United States at least, has a maximum grade around 5% (and this line has been abandoned for over a decade in favour of easier routes).

On Canadian Pacific in British Columbia, the "Big Hill" that was replaced by the Spiral Tunnels to ease the grade was "only" 4.5%.

>2% is considered a reasonably significant grade.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

Brakeman Jake said:


> Confirmed facts...
> -Train had been stopped eleven kms. earlier (in Nante,Que.) due to an on-board fire in one of the engines.
> -Nante's firemen confirm they've been called at 11:30PM.Intervention took 45 min.They also confirm that they had to shut the engine off to extinguish the fire,wich was caused by a fuel line rupture.And lastly,they reported leaving the area after MMA employees had told them everything was under control.They have no idea what happened after.


Some conflicting information floating around still at this point, but from what I understand part of this is not quite accurate.

Nante is apparently a crew change point for Canadian/American crews on trains crossing the Quebec/Maine border. The Canadian crew (apparently they use 1-man crews here with RCL equipment, but that may not be relevant to what happened later) that brought the train in tied it down and booked into the local hotel. The train didn't stop because of a fire, it stopped because it was the end of that crew's run.

Apparently the fire dept. was called sometime later for a fire on the train, and several articles are suggesting that any MMA employees that may have arrived on site after or during the fire may have been (track) maintenance crews and not enginemen. Other articles imply that the fire dept. shut it down while dealing with the fire and informed the railway what they did, but it's not clear if railway employees were actually present on site. Some articles were presented in a way that suggest MMA people were there, others could be read to suggest they weren't. Some confusion here. At any rate, apparently the engine was shut down sometime during or after the fire response.

There was no crew with the train when the accident occurred. The incoming Canadian crew had booked off and was probably asleep in the hotel. No outgoing American crew had yet arrived to pick up the train.

Beyond that, there's a lot of unknowns and speculation floating around, and it's still early to say how much inaccurate information has been passed on by reporters that don't know what they're talking about. Some articles suggested that the train was an automated or remote-controlled driverless train on "autopilot", when no such thing exists. There is a grain of truth to the remote-control equipment part, but this has been wildly misinterpreted by the media.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

There is talk of fowl play too.
And I suspect now the terrorists just got another ideal for creating mass murder. 

I think all the rails are wide open for some kind of attack.
Think about it. :smokin:


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

The area between Nante and Lac-Megantic is a constant downhill,apparently varying from level to up to 8% for an average of 1.2% overall.The train travels down a little over 400 ft. on the eleven kilometer leg of tracks.One MMA operator said that this portion of the travel is indeed a scary experience.

The infos we've had so far...
1-Train crew had reached the end of their work shift and were required to stop the train.
2-Company ruling stipulate that manual brakes should be engaged on at least eight cars in this specific area(Nante).Operator reported engaging brakes on ten cars.
3-Thereafter,fire erupted in one of the locos (lead one?).Firemen were called,who called them isn't known.
4-Firemen fight fire and engine is turned off in the process.It seems an MMA employee turned it off to assist firemen.
5-Firemen leave the area after receiving clearance from MMA people.Were these MMA people enginemen or track maintenance?Still unclear.
6-Some time after firemen leaving,train started to proceed towards Lac-Megantic with no one on board.Assuming the leaving operator had engaged the manual brakes (as he said),then who released them?Were they released before refilling the air tanks with one of the other four locos?I believe all locos have compressors,don't they?Or the manual brakes were not engaged at all?Lots of questions that will be answered as time goes on I guess.


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## California RailFan508 (Jul 2, 2013)

It will be most interesting to see what becomes of the investigation into this tragedy. It is always a shame to hear about someone dying in a train-related accident, but when a runaway train (tanker cars with oil) is involved, it just makes it that much more terrible.

I hope that they catch whoever tampered with the train (assuming that the evidence points that way and they find a suspect to take interest in), for those who willingly do such things should be held accountable and locked away for many years.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Latest news...
-Twenty bodies found,still fifty missing presumed dead.
-MMA's president doesn't seem to believe that the parking brakes were ever set on the train.Train operator under severe suspicion,everything points to careless handling.


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## California RailFan508 (Jul 2, 2013)

More updates (Credit to CBS News):

- Edward Burkhardt, president and CEO of parent company Rail World Inc., said the engineer had been suspended without pay and was under "police control."
- Edward Burkhardt: "We think he (Tom Harding, Engineer from Quebec) applied some hand brakes, but the question is, did he apply enough of them?" Burkhardt said. "He said he applied 11 hand brakes. We think that's not true. Initially we believed him, but now we don't."


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

As of today (July 11),body count has reached 24,with only one officially identified yet.

Police arrested someone who was trying to break in an unoccupied house last night...I guess you can always rely on some jerk trying to benefit from someone's misfortune....

People are allowed back to their houses as the safety zone shortens.Over 800 have done so but many will have to wait weeks.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Officials have said that 42 bodies have been found so far and their estimation is that there still are five left that they say may never be found though.

The City of Lac megantic have sent MMA a bill for close to eight million dollars so far for the clean-up,wich MMA hasn't cared to respond to yet.

In the meanwhile,MMA has laid off a third of their people at the Farnham yard.Company president is nowhere to be reached......


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I'm guessing MMA will soon be declaring bankruptcy, as the civil suits for all the deaths are sure to start pouring in!


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

That's what I believe will happen...unfortunately.Declare bankurptcy then start over the next week under another name,clean as can be.

Canadians are expecting that both levels of govrnments (federal & provincial) will have to wipe most of the mess as it is unlikely that MMA's insurances will cover it all anyway.What came up in the news this morning is that not only MMA will be facing civil suits though as the car makers and the shippers for instance will also have to answer about their practices.

Sure is going to be a legal mess that will likely take years to end...multiple people suing,multiple companies sued,two countries involved,a province and may be a state or more...couldn't be more complicated I guess.


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