Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bakken, Keystone, Lac-Megantic, oil transportation, shale oil, tight oil
Investigators say they’ve recovered the “black box” that should help determine what happened before a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd. train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded in a Quebec town, killing at least five people.
The train with 72 carloads of crude oil crashed and burst into flames early Saturday near the center of Lac-Megantic, in the southeastern part of the province, forcing the evacuation of 2,000 people, police said. Forty people remain unaccounted for and a criminal investigation is under way.
via Black Box Recovered in Fatal Quebec Oil Train Explosion – Bloomberg.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bakken, Lac-Megantic, oil transportation, Quebec, train derailment
Okay, this makes a lot more sense. Sorry about the confusion. Still a mystery however.
The cause of the accident was believed to be a runaway train, the railway’s operator said. The president and CEO of Rail World Inc., the parent company of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, said the train had been parked uphill of Lac-Megantic. The tanker cars then sped downhill into the town before derailing.
“If brakes aren’t properly applied on a train, it’s going to run away,” said Edward Burkhardt. “But we think the brakes were properly applied on this train.”
Burkhardt, who was mystified by the disaster, said the train was parked because the engineer had finished his run.
“We’ve had a very good safety record for these 10 years,” he said of the decade-old railroad. “Well, I think we’ve blown it here.”
via Quebec police: 5 dead in oil train derailment – SFGate.
Anybody ever heard of a driverless train being used, loaded with hazardous materials? Several obvious problems with that scheme.
Rail company spokesman Christophe Journet said the train had been immobilised in a neighbouring village before a scheduled crew change, but for an unknown reason had then started rolling downhill into Lac-Megantic.
Eye witnesses said that by the time the driverless train reached the town it was travelling at considerable speed.
Local media reported 60 people missing, although police officials have not confirmed this.
via BBC News – Canada train blast: At least one dead in Lac-Megantic.
Industrialized Cyclist Notepad 