'The train got loose' says company (explosion and fire at Lac Megantic, Quebec)

[FarCenter]

MONTREAL - The train that careened into the centre of town in Lac Megantic early Saturday morning was unmanned when it derailed and exploded in a huge ball of flame, says a spokesperson for the company that owned the locomotive.

Joseph R. McGonigle confirmed to The Gazette early Saturday afternoon that shortly before midnight, the train's conductor locked the brakes and checked to ensure that the rail cars carrying thousands of litres of crude oil were all securely attached. He then checked into a nearby Lac Megantic hotel for the night.

"Sometime after, the train got loose," said McGonigle, who is vice president of marketing for The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway. "It traveled under its own inertia to the centre of the town."

The locomotive portion of the 73-car train actually detached half a mile outside of the small town, he added, but the cars carrying the oil kept right on rolling. McGonigle said there are security mechanisms in place to prevent anyone from tampering with the train, and the proper checks were done by the conductor before he left the vehicle. No one except him should have been able to set it in motion.

"That's what confuses us. How did this happen?" McGonigle said. "There are many fail-safe modes. How this happened is just beyond us."

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Train+carrying+crude+derails+explodes+Megantic/8625250/story.html

[WovenGems]

1. Gremlins!!!

[FarCenter]

2. Human error, mechanical/electrical failure, or sabotage.

[WovenGems]

3. Plot for movie

Gremlins and POed elves work better than the mundane that leads to a disaster.

[bluedigger]

6. I was thinking "this is going to end up in a Steven King novel"...

It's practically in his backyard, after all.

[cali]

4. hopefully not sabotage

awful as this is, sabotage would make it 100x worse.

[FarCenter]

5. They will have to consider all possibilities as they work through the investigation

A team of at least six investigators is already on its way to the site of the train derailment, Transportation Safety Board of Canada spokesperson Chris Krepsky said Saturday.

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. THE TRAIN WAS PILOTLESS?

CBC's French service, Radio-Canada, has reported there was no one on board the train, which was being remotely operated.


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

[FarCenter]

8. It was parked for the night.

There is a side track about 4 or 5 miles west and uphill from the town.

[Brickbat]

14. Operated remotely? No.

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. Something doesn't smell right about this whole thing.

This could get ugly.

[FarCenter]

10. North American Freight Train Brakes

http://www.railway-technical.com/brake2.shtml#BrakeRelease

Once set, the brakes on each car should stay activated by the local reservoir until the brake pipe is pressurized to release the brakes. I'd say that sabotage looks more likely than failure.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

15. Canadian railroads are a third-world disaster

and operate under no effective regulation, that isn't to say there aren't regulations. But they are ignored with impunity.

[Poll_Blind]

11. When I read the article, I couldn't help but be reminded of the Gare de Lyon rail accident in 1988.

In that case, it was ultimately caused by a freak accident where the engineer accidentally disabled his own brakes, unknowingly. As with any disaster, there were other things which also failed or exacerbated the initial situation to make things worse.

Gare de Lyon rail accident

PB

[Brickbat]

12. Equipment failure or vandalism, if the crew is telling the truth.

Edited for beer fingers.

[cali]

13. another thousand people have been evacuated due to toxic fumes.

lots of details in this article.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/canada/Quebec+train+derailment+fire+explosion+leaves+some+people/8625470/story.html

[pinboy3niner]

16. Quebec police: More oil train deaths expected (AP)

Quebec police expect more deaths after oil train derailment kills at least 1
Associated Press – 1 hour 1 minute ago

LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec (AP) -- Fires continued burning late Saturday nearly 24 hours after a runaway train carrying crude oil derailed in eastern Quebec, igniting explosions and fires that destroyed a town's center and killed at least one person. Police said they expected the death toll to increase.

The eruptions sent residents of Lac-Megantic scrambling through the streets under the intense heat of towering fireballs and a red glow that illuminated the night sky, witnesses said. Flames and billowing black smoke could still be seen long after the 73-car train derailed, and a fire chief likened the charred scene to a war zone.

Up to 2,000 people were forced from their homes in the lakeside town of 6,000 people, which is about 155 miles (250 kilometers) east of Montreal and about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of the Maine border.

Quebec provincial police Lt. Michel Brunet confirmed that one person had died. He refused to say how many others might be dead, but said authorities have been told "many" people have been reported missing.

Lt. Guy Lapointe, a spokesman with Quebec provincial police, said: "I don't want to get into numbers, what I will say is we do expect we'll have other people who will be found deceased unfortunately."

...


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/quebec-police-more-oil-train-022102446.html

[xynthee]

17. K & R

I really want to hear more about this; it seems very strange.

Groundless speculation is a-ok with me, but fact-based contributions are also good! There's a frustrating lack of discussion about it here. I hadn't even heard about it until now!!