Scooby074
Super Member
Yes..
Train - hazardous cargo "accident"
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Yes..
crazyal
Super Member
I read that the engineer said he set the manual brakes on all the engines and 10 cars, as per SOP before leaving the train. The head of the rail line was contradicting the engineer by saying he didn't think that the manual brakes were set.
hogheadCTD
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Id like to know what % of grade the train was sitting on? A 76 tank car train your looking at around 11,000 tons. With 5 (?) units and 10 cars tied down I find it hard to believe that it could get up to 60mph with that many brakes on. If it was say a 2% grade I could see the train slowly "creeping" if it was rolling away with that many brakes on. Who ever tied the hand brakes must not have tied them very tight.
Its also very common to leave a train unattended, railroaders do it all the time. We have a 1 page check list of tie down procedures, once we complete that we sign it and leave it for the next crew. The MOST IMPORTANT step is to release all air brakes and see if the train will move on it own. If it does not move than it is tied down properly. The vast majority of railroads have this procedure.
Its also very common to leave a train unattended, railroaders do it all the time. We have a 1 page check list of tie down procedures, once we complete that we sign it and leave it for the next crew. The MOST IMPORTANT step is to release all air brakes and see if the train will move on it own. If it does not move than it is tied down properly. The vast majority of railroads have this procedure.
Makes sense CTD - same reasoning 30 year+ pilots use a checklist, even though they've seen it thousands of times. I don't know RRs, but that is what I'd expect as a SOP.
It seems that "hands-off" when it comes to RRs is not just a Canadian thing. (Yes, I do understand that it is federally regulated, but finger pointing accomplishes nothing).
Maine has no plans to halt oil rail shipments after Quebec tragedy | Reuters
Ted Talbot, spokesman for the Maine Department of Transportation, called the Quebec accident "tragic," but said the state had no plans to review movements of crude oil through Maine.
"It's on the same parallel as a tractor-trailer accident. It's private commerce and we don't get involved," Talbot said.
"There's no appetite to curb or otherwise alter the shipments of crude in Maine," he said.
1) I'm finding that some of the best "hard" reporting is coming out of the UK.
2) What has also been running through my mind is "What about all the rest of the hazardous material that gets shipped by train ?". I know it's trendy to demonize Oil these days, but there are plenty of other materials that are as bad/worse. Any meaningful corrective action plan needs to include all these materials, not just the Demon Oil.
Rgds, D.
It seems that "hands-off" when it comes to RRs is not just a Canadian thing. (Yes, I do understand that it is federally regulated, but finger pointing accomplishes nothing).
Maine has no plans to halt oil rail shipments after Quebec tragedy | Reuters
Ted Talbot, spokesman for the Maine Department of Transportation, called the Quebec accident "tragic," but said the state had no plans to review movements of crude oil through Maine.
"It's on the same parallel as a tractor-trailer accident. It's private commerce and we don't get involved," Talbot said.
"There's no appetite to curb or otherwise alter the shipments of crude in Maine," he said.
1) I'm finding that some of the best "hard" reporting is coming out of the UK.
2) What has also been running through my mind is "What about all the rest of the hazardous material that gets shipped by train ?". I know it's trendy to demonize Oil these days, but there are plenty of other materials that are as bad/worse. Any meaningful corrective action plan needs to include all these materials, not just the Demon Oil.
Rgds, D.
From:
Lac-Mégantic: What we know, what we don
The runaway train descended a 1.2% grade heading downhill toward Lac-Mégantic, picking up speed as it went.
Soundguy
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that's the weird part. all the contradicting info..
crazyal
Super Member
I think I read 1.2%
crazyal
Super Member
There will be little to no way of knowing if they were set and then released or never set in the first place. Maybe if they were released by someone else who only partially released them or if they find fingerprints on the wheels, assuming that the brakes set were the ones closest to the engine and not destroyed by the crash.
Scooby074
Super Member
I dont see a smoking gun here for sabotage.
I DO see what's looking like a large dose of negligence.
I DO see what's looking like a large dose of negligence.
crazyal
Super Member
The question is who shut off the switches inside the cab? The firefighters say they didn't go in the cab, that a switch on the outside of the engine was used. I read that the railway person who was there when they were putting out the fire wasn't an engineer and had no clue how the locomotive operated. And what caused the fire in the first place?
