Canadian Railroads > MMA Derailment and Fire at Lac-Megantic

Apparently an MMA derailment in Lac-Megantic, QC overnight has caused a major fire in the town:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/07/06/quebec-train-derailment-fire.html

Includes a photo and video of the unit tank train burning:

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-affaires-criminelles/faits-divers/201307/06/01-4668289-un-train-de-carburant-explose-a-lac-megantic.php

Ray



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/13 04:04 by Ray_Murphy.

MM&A line

The Canadian regulatory authorities have been looking for an opportunity to review rail shipping of crude oil, this could be a long and detailed investigation.

A couple of videos and a map in this one ...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/massive-explosions-strike-quebec-town-after-train-carrying-oil-derails/article13050578/#dashboard/follows/

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

thehighwayman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A couple of videos and a map in this one ...
>
> http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/massi
> ve-explosions-strike-quebec-town-after-train-carry
> ing-oil-derails/article13050578/#dashboard/follows
> /

It looks like the derailment happened near the end of the train. In the video above, you can see the SBU still flashing on the end of the train, while the inferno rages in the background. Hopefully, that is good news for the crew.

GTD

MMA, eh? Bernie de la Rionda is going to go nuts.

Information is still sketchy, but apparently the train was tied down for the night at Nantes, QC, a few miles west of Lac-Megantic. Somehow it got moving by itself (5 locomotives), and was described by witnesses as traveling at an unusually high speed through Lac-Megantic, where there are sharp curves.

Ray

Ray_Murphy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Information is still sketchy, but apparently the
> train was tied down for the night at Nantes, QC, a
> few miles west of Lac-Megantic. Somehow it got
> moving by itself (5 locomotives), and was
> described by witnesses as traveling at an
> unusually high speed through Lac-Megantic, where
> there are sharp curves.
>
> Ray

If this is eventually confirmed, I suspect we'll see some new rules about transporting explosives, and flammable materials by rail in Canada.

> It looks like the derailment happened near the end
> of the train. In the video above, you can see the
> SBU still flashing on the end of the train, while
> the inferno rages in the background. Hopefully,
> that is good news for the crew.
>
> GTD

Looking at the size of the fire, I'm guessing the entire front 2/3 of the train went up. Will be interesting to learn the details.

Megantic is where the Canadian crews change with US crews for the journey across northern Maine.

KG's photos from a while back show the RCO cabooses used for operation in the US.

The MM&A CEO is Ed Burkhardt. When he was CEO of Wisconsin Central and Algoma Central, he introduced limited one person crews on freight trains using RCO (Beltpak) operation to his properties in the US and Canada.

Could this have been a train set up for RCO operation awaiting a US crewmember?

This was most likely a 1 man crew operation. Most of MM&A's road operations from St. Luc in Montreal to Brownville Jct in Maine, as well as almost all operations in Maine are 1 man crews.

Can anyone confirm that this train was previously CP train 606?

Posted from Android

Not familiar with this line...

does anyone know the grade from Nantes, and speed of the curves in Lac-Megantic?

Track speed was 40mph, but I'm looking at an out of date TT and I don't know about any speed restrictions. They did have a permanent 10mph speedo over a crossing in Megantic.

Can't tell you about grades, I'm unfamiliar with the area...

what was the route for this train to get to the mma? was it one of the trains csx hands off at albany, ny to the cp?

Train would have been CP 606, off the SOO Line in ND. CP all the way to St. Luc yard in Montreal where it would have been handed to MM&A.

KSmitty Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This was most likely a 1 man crew operation. Most
> of MM&A's road operations from St. Luc in Montreal
> to Brownville Jct in Maine, as well as almost all
> operations in Maine are 1 man crews.

I hope we get some clear cut evidence as to whether the incident was due to error or sabotage. Otherwise we might have one of those controversies that lives on for years.

Either way, it is a great tragedy for the town of Lac-Megantic and its inhabitants. Let's keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

KSmitty Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Train would have been CP 606, off the SOO Line in
> ND. CP all the way to St. Luc yard in Montreal
> where it would have been handed to MM&A.

Headed to the refinery in St. Johns?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/13 11:32 by SD40-2.

From one picture in the news, it looks like NATX 310470 is the first car still on the rails behind the pileup, if anyone is inclined to do a trace.

This story from the UK Daily Mail has some photos & even mentions the possibility of an auto pilot being used? Not sure about that one.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2357352/Breaking-news-Canadian-town-center-wiped-freight-train-carrying-hundreds-tons-crude-oil-derails-explodes.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323899704578589460837041312.html

"Joe McGonigle, Chicago-based vice president at Montreal Maine & Atlantic, said the train had been stopped outside of town for a crew change, and that there was no crew on the train at the time that it somehow started to roll. The train's engineer had inspected the train at just before midnight and all was secure. However, sometime after that, the train started to move, eventually traveling 6.8 miles, and part of it derailed and several cars exploded, he said.

"The train was released, we don't know how," he said. All safety measures were in place, and the train was "secure," he said.

All 73 of the cars on the train, which were all carrying crude, were headed to Brownville Junction, Maine, Mr. McGonigle said."

Was this the train in the photos from http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,3119407 ?