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LEFT: Moments after a 73-car Montréal, Maine & Atlantic unit oil train derailed in Lac-Mé- gantic, Québec, an oil-fueled fire engulfs the towns business district. ABOVE: After the fire was extinguished days later, accordioned tank cars littered the scene. The Musi-Bar nightclub was about where the chimney stands near the center of the photo. The track from Nantes comes in from the upper right and the main curves east at the lower left. Many derailing cars followed the west leg of the wye after the first few cars derailed just out of the picture to the left. ABOVE RIGHT: Investigators examine the handbrake on the oil train’s buffer car.
the unattended locomotives were left un- locked and asked Transport Canada to “en- sure that trains carrying DGs [dangerous goods] are not left unattended on the main track.” On July 29, TC issued an emergency directive which requires that trains carrying dangerous goods be operated by a two-person crew and that locomotives coupled to tank cars carrying DG are not left unattended on a main track. In addition, unattended locomo- tives must be locked and have their reversers removed.
Also under scrutiny are the single-wall DOT 111 tank cars that made up the train. Several
cars were punctured by rails and other objects, and the cars’ top valves and bottom outlets are vulnerable to damage in a derailment. Le Surété du Québec launched an investi-
gation into the wreck and has indicated that criminal negligence may be involved. On July 25 the provincial police obtained a warrant and raided the MMA offices in Farnham in search of evidence. While MMA President Robert Grindrod
and other officials were on the scene shortly after the accident, CEO Burkhardt was criti- cized for waiting five days to appear. He told reporters that he was better equipped to deal
with the crisis from his office in Illinois. In late July the railroad and fuel services compa- nies World Fuel Services and Western Petro- leum were ordered to pay for the cleanup of the 35,000 barrels of oil that were spilled; the oil was bound for the Irving refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick. With its main connection to the North American rail network severed for nearly a month as the investigation wore on, MMA quickly laid off 79 of its 179 employees in the accident’s aftermath and by late July the Maine Department of Transportation was in- vestigating how to keep the system running in the event that MMA goes bankrupt or shuts down. Then, on August 1 the TSB announced that it had completed its on-site investigation, clearing the way for the wreck to be cleaned up and the track restored. Montréal, Maine & Atlantic has operated
on a shoestring since Day One, when its biggest customer shut down as soon as the pa- pers were signed for the takeover from Iron Road. Many had hoped that the oil traffic, which started running this spring, would be the company’s salvation, but it appears that on July 6, the shoestring broke. The coming weeks will determine what the future holds for the MMA. — WALT LANKENAU
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UNION PACIFIC
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