Train Carrying Tons of Oil Derails & Explodes in Canada

[GDS_Starfury]

its a very serious case and a horrible name for an inspector.

[Staggerwing]

It's probably pronounced 'MEE-shell Foor-ZHAY'.

Just like in 'Hyacinth Boo-KAY'

[Centurion40]

A co-worker told me (how he knows, I have no idea- I also have no idea if any of this is actually true) that the company that operates the train received an exemption from Transport Canada, allowing them to run trains with only 1 engineer (a cost saving measure for the company).  Apparently the standard regulation requires 2 engineers per train.  When the explosion happened, the engineer was off the train, sleeping at a local motel.  The train had 5 engines, one was left on in order to keep power to the brakes and other systems while the engineer rested.  Apparently this is a common occurrence in this town, and something that really annoys the locals, especially during the summer months when people don't enjoy listening to a train engine running at night, while they are trying to sleep with their windows open.

While the engineer is sleeping, someone, somehow spots a fire on the train and calls the fire department.  The (volunteer) fire department arrives and decides that, for safety, they need to stop the electricity running through the train from the engine.  Someone climbs on-board and turns off the one running engine.  This cuts power to the brakes, and the train starts to slowly roll.  So the firefighters are trying to put out a fire on a slowly rolling train.  Apparently the engineer is still in bed, asleep.  As my co-worker understands the story, someone then jumps onto the burning train (either a firefighter or the now awake engineer), and starts engaging the hand brakes on the train cars.  This action may, or may not have caused the derailment.  Finally that the police investigation is looking into criminal negligence and the possibility that a disgruntled, sleepless local may have done something to the train.

[WallysWorld]

The chief of the fire brigade that put out the engine fire said they left the train in the hands of a railroad official.

Meanwhile the railway company is saying the firemen should have awaken the sleeping engineer.

[LongBlade]

40 that sounds quite plausible. I guess we'll find out if it's true.

[LongBlade]

Latest report: the engineer failed to set the handbrakes...all 11 of them.

...the engineer had told investigators that he set 11 handbrakes on the train before it broke away. "Our general feeling is now that is not true," Burkhardt said.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/10/world/americas/canada-runaway-train/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[Centurion40]

Yeah, CBC is basically reporting the same thing.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/07/10/lac-megantic-quebec-train-explosion-investigation.html

The engineer in charge of the train that derailed and exploded in Lac-Mégantic is "under police control," according to the head of the rail company.

At an impromptu news conference, Ed Burkhardt, the president of Railworld Inc., remained unflappable as he addressed a flurry of reporters who crowded around him.

He said the engineer has been suspended without pay.

"The fact is he's under the police control. He's not, as I understand, in jail, but the police have talked about prosecuting him," Burkhardt said.

"I don't think he'll be back working with us," he told reporters shortly after he arrived in the town this afternoon.

"It was our employee that was responsible for setting the brakes on the train ... That employee is under investigation and is not working."

The train was parked by the engineer late Friday night, according to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada which is investigating the incident.

The engineer then left the train and went to sleep at a nearby hotel. A short time later, a fire was reported on the train and another railway employee was brought in, according to the TSB. After firefighters and the rail worker had left the scene, the train started to roll downhill, derailed and exploded in the centre of Lac-Mégantic .

[MikeGER]

...shouldn't brakes on such a vehicle been constructed in a way that the fail-safe mode is 'brake' and not 'roll'?
(so you need power, hydraulic- or air- pressure, whatever ....to keep the brake lifted, if the power is lost, brake clamps) no need to run a noisy engine so.

when i heard about the criminal investigation on our TV news i thought some local juvenile tampered with the unattended train... and it got out of control, and they jumped off

Nasa Sat pic
:o

[bob48]

I thought that the Westinghouse Vacuum Brake system was more-or-less used on railways the world over because its an almost fail-safe system. Once the vacuum is compromised the brakes automatically apply.

[Arctic Blast]

Before and after shots. Good lord.

[TheCommandTent]

^ Wow I had not seen it in the perspective before.  Just wow.

[Staggerwing]

 :o The railcars are right on top of that oft mentioned nightclub!
Even if they didn't explode right away those tankers would have been like 72 steamrollers stomping that place flat.

[LongBlade]

Not good.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.

[mirth]

Questions are being raised about the overall safety of the tank car design.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/quebec-oil-train-derailment-puts-tank-car-in-spotlight-dot-111-is-workhorse-of-the-rails/2013/07/09/617cce7e-e8d0-11e2-818e-aa29e855f3ab_story.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOT-111_tank_car

[LongBlade]

Questions are being raised about the overall safety of the tank car design.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/quebec-oil-train-derailment-puts-tank-car-in-spotlight-dot-111-is-workhorse-of-the-rails/2013/07/09/617cce7e-e8d0-11e2-818e-aa29e855f3ab_story.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOT-111_tank_car

OK, it's been known since '91 that there were problems with the cars.

It looks like changes were being implemented in 2011. Not enough time to do much with all the rolling stock out there, I guess :/