Train - hazardous cargo "accident"

[Scooby074]

Here's one thing that Ive been wondering.

The trains air brakes were set, but considering the train was to be left unattended for several hours why wernt the hand brakes on several cars applied as well?

Why wernt derailers used on the downhill side? How long to they take to apply? Can they be applied by a single man without tools, or do they require a work crew?

From one article I read, it sounds like train brakes are air applied, spring release. Apparently one engine was left running to supply air. That engine was shut off. Not good. Certainly not how I would have designed them. And another strange thing from the article, the last person from the company at the train was a maintenance man, not the engineer.

 

[Scooby074]

I heard it was carrying oil, diesel fuel and that stuff they inject into gas wells for 'fracking'. There were several fireballs, and I didn't think oil and diesel would explode like that. Maybe if the temp is high enough they will. Rail freight is much cheaper than trucks, so they use it as much as they can. With all the new gas wells going in, getting this stuff there by pipeline is a pipe dream. And as bad as this looks, rail is safer than trucking. Just like even after the plane crash in San Fran, flying is still safer than driving yourself.

I understand it was a unit train. All the tanks had the same cargo, crude. The destination was the Irving refinery in St. Johns. Irving has been bringing in LOTS of Brakken crude via train lately.

What they are beginning to think happened was a Bleve Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Very nasty explosion.

 

[3930dave]

I heard it was carrying oil, diesel fuel and that stuff they inject into gas wells for 'fracking'. There were several fireballs, and I didn't think oil and diesel would explode like that. Maybe if the temp is high enough they will. Rail freight is much cheaper than trucks, so they use it as much as they can. With all the new gas wells going in, getting this stuff there by pipeline is a pipe dream. And as bad as this looks, rail is safer than trucking. Just like even after the plane crash in San Fran, flying is still safer than driving yourself.

Shipping crude from N. Dakota to New Brunswick ? I knew already, but these logistics highlight the lack of refinery capacity in N. America.

Not knowing much about how this crude is handled, I was a bit surprised to hear the rail cars described as pressurised. Not that you wouldn't have a sizeable problem with a hole in a non-pressurised transport container, but this aspect seems to be asking for trouble. Going to read the link Scooby posted next.

Rgds, D.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

By a very strange coincidence, I watched "Unstoppable" for the first time this weekend.

 

[bcp]

The most information I've seen so far:
Lac-Mégantic derailment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The freight train comprised five diesel-powered locomotives hauling 72 tanker cars, each filled with 113,000 litres (30,000 U.S. gal) of crude oil.

The train had left Montreal and stopped at Nantes at 23:25, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) west of Lac-Mégantic, for a crew change. The engineer parked the train by setting the brakes and departed for a local hotel. Nantes is located uphill from Lac-Mégantic.

Firefighters were called five minutes later at around 23:30, about two hours before the incident, because of a fire on the first locomotive. They left after the MMA confirmed the train was safe. A press release from the MMA surmised that the locomotive may have been shut down, which may have released the air brakes.

 

[bcp]

From:
Lac-Megantic Explosions, Fire: 5 Deaths Confirmed, About 40 Considered Missing (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

 

[Soundguy]

good grief that is a huge destruction path!

 

[oldnslo]

Not knowing much about how this crude is handled, I was a bit surprised to hear the rail cars described as pressurised. Not that you wouldn't have a sizeable problem with a hole in a non-pressurised transport container, but this aspect seems to be asking for trouble. Going to read the link Scooby posted next.

Rgds, D.

I don't know about handling crude either but is the "sealed" container meant to prevent vapor from escaping. Vapor is what burns & smells so is the EPA trying to keep our world safe and possibly creating bigger problems when something does go wrong?


There is a rail line around 1700 feet behind my home and every day we have at least one ethanol train go by. Usually around 100 - 125 cars. This derailed in Rockford, IL a few years back and the problem with ethanol is that it burns clear. You can't see any flames, only heat waves.

Agree, sounds like more than a single safety feature failed to allow a train to start rolling.

 

[bcp]

From:
Lac Megantic: Death toll rises in Quebec train derailment explosion | Toronto Star

Ed Burkhardt, chairman of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, said Sunday night that the train’s sole engineer shut down four of the five locomotive units on the train, as is standard procedure, in the neighbouring community of Nantes before heading to Lac Mégantic to sleep. Burkhardt said the next engineer was probably due to arrive at daybreak.

But someone managed to shut down the fifth locomotive unit, he said. The railroad alleges someone tampered with the controls of the fifth engine, the one maintaining brake pressure to keep the train stopped.

“If the operating locomotive is shut down, there’s nothing left to keep the brakes charged up, and the brake pressure will drop finally to the point where they can’t be held in place any longer,” Burkhardt said.

There are two ways to shut down the fifth unit: There’s an emergency lever on the outside of the locomotive that anyone wandering by could access. Or, there are a number of levers and buttons inside the unlocked cabin.

Both means were used, said Burkhardt.

 

[Larro Darro]

I understand it was a unit train. All the tanks had the same cargo, crude. The destination was the Irving refinery in St. Johns. Irving has been bringing in LOTS of Brakken crude via train lately.

What they are beginning to think happened was a Bleve Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Very nasty explosion.

Thanks for the info. I had heard the other stuff late the other night right after it happened. You know how the first reports turn out. But I was half asleep. They might have been saying it wasn't uncommon for trains to carry that sort of cargo.
I used to be a news junkie. Five years ago I went to the other extreme. Now if it isn't about racing, hoops or football, the only way I hear about it is on one of these threads. Although I did see somewhere today that rail safety is at 99.975%, and that pipelines were even safer. The difference is that the tracks always go right through the center of town.