Oil-laden freight train explodes in Canadian town, people killed

This smacks of absolute negligence, and this company will pay tooth and nail. I hope all the missing are accounted for, and the death toll doesn't rise. Unlikely, but I hope so.

This smacks of absolute negligence

It could also be vandalism. The rail company said the engine brakes were applied but that the cars were somehow decoupled and then rolled into the village. The decoupling happened at night on a weekend.

Anything that is "driverless" bothers me.

What a sad story. I thought it was a driverless train at first, but it seems like it was a runaway train. I cannot imagine sabotage...

Sounds a bit like the movie 'Unstoppable', but without Denzil Washington and Chris Pine...

Crude oil shipments by rail have become increasingly popular in North America as pipelines fill to capacity and more and more oil is produced in western regions like Alberta and North Dakota.

Sounds like a good excuse for building some more pipelines. The oil is going to be moved one way or another.

Sounds like a good excuse for building some more pipelines.

Really?? And what pipeline would have made the transport of this cargo of oil through Lac-Megantic unnecessary? Does anyone actually believe that Keystone would impact this in any way?

A look at a map of the town, with the location of the Musi-Cafe being along Rue Frontenac, where the tracks fork to the north or south, one can only wonder how many young people were out on a Saturday night.

“He claims he set the brakes on all five of the engines. He also claims he set the brakes on a sufficient number of cars on the train,” he told Reuters in an interview.

This is incredible. An investigation should determine the whether this was true or not.

This is a tremendous tragedy. The town is such a lovely place and the people are so nice.

There's going to be a huge environmental clean-up and rebuilding required.

Tragic.

Rest in peace to all the victims. Hopefully company executives will be jailed over this - sadly it won't bring back the many victims.

Driverless train? How? Why?

I would have thought that the brakes would have been set on all the cars but I don't know much about train procedures. Tragic.

It angers me to no end that Canadian rail companies find it normal to leave their trains parked... with 7 000 tons of volatile and toxic cargo (crude oil)... with their engine idling... without surveillance... ON A SLOPE!

What's worse is that there was a fire on the train before it ran away, and it was left to grow until some passerby called the fire department, because the rail company had no one nearby. The fire department even said that such fire was "not unusual"! And when warned, the rail company only sent some unqualified track maintenance guy to secure the train, not even an engineer!

This is insane. Who in their right mind would say that this is fine and normal? Since Canada has privatized rail transport and abandoned regulating the industry to the industry itself, derailments have become very frequent, these days, it's about once every other week. The companies cut corners to compete with subsidized freight trucks (subsidized because they have free access to roads while train companies have to maintain their network on their own dime), so the rolling stock and the rail infrastructure are being insufficiently maintained.

You know what that reminds me of? The Japanese nuclear industry. Like with rail companies in Canada, it's private-owned and left to write their own regulations by themselves, and it cuts corners on safety to save a few bucks, no matter the consequences of their negligence may be.

It angers me to no end that Canadian rail companies find it normal to leave their trains parked... with 7 000 tons of volatile and toxic cargo (crude oil)... with their engine idling... without surveillance... ON A SLOPE!

Yes, me too.

This is insane. Who in their right mind would say that this is fine and normal? Since Canada has privatized rail transport and abandoned regulating the industry to the industry itself, derailments have become very frequent, these days, it's about once every other week.

Interesting point! Sadly, the potential for an utter disaster such as occurred did not provide sufficient incentive to personnel engaged in helping the rail company maximize profits while cutting costs to the bone. (Don't think such stupidity and mismanagement doesn't apply to pipelines too.)

And what pipeline would have made the transport of this cargo of oil through Lac-Megantic unnecessary?

The proposed Energy East Pipeline project will deliver oil directly to the New Brunswick refinery that this shipment was destined for by rail.

To wit:

This is a proposed 4,400-kilometre pipeline that will carry between 500,000 and 850,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries in Eastern Canada.

Three other new terminals will be built along the pipeline’s route: one in Saskatchewan, one in the Québec City area and another in the Saint John, New Brunswick area. The terminals in the Québec City and Saint John areas will include facilities for marine tanker loading. The project will also include delivery to existing Québec refineries in Montréal and near Québec City as well as the refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick.

http://www.transcanada.com/6246.html

The proposed Energy East Pipeline project will deliver oil directly to the New Brunswick refinery that this shipment was destined for by rail.

False. The New Brunswick refinery purchased this load of oil from North Dakota -- a source that would still depend on rail transport.

False. The New Brunswick refinery purchased this load of oil from North Dakota -- a source that would still depend on rail transport.

Actually, it is not false. The quote you are responding to did not refer to the source of the oil, it merely referred to the refinery that it was destined for. If the pipeline were to service New Brunswick, the quote to which you responded would be correct.

Actually, it is not false.

Actually, it is false. The quote to which I responded claimed "pipelines" would have made this shipment of oil from North Dakota to New Brunswick unnecessary.

Suffice to say that oil from North Dakota will make it to refineries via several ways, and rail will still carry millions of those barrels. Pipelines present their own problems, and using a disaster like this to push for a pipeline is disingenuous to say the very least.

Actually, it is false. The quote to which I responded claimed "pipelines" would have made this shipment of oil from North Dakota to New Brunswick unnecessary.

Actually, no. It referred to the destination of the rail and the pipeline. In addition, the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would go through North Dakota although that line would not go directly to New Brunswick.

using a disaster like this to push for a pipeline is disingenuous to say the very least.

People make safety assessments all the time. Just because you disagree with the assessments do not make them 'disingenous'.