Lac-Mégantic derailment

The railway accident of Lac- Mégantic as on July 6, 2013 from 1:15 clock a runaway freight train of the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway ( MMA) on the railway line Brookport - Mattawamkeag occurred in the small town of Lac- Mégantic in the Canadian province of Quebec, derailed. The train transported crude oil from North Dakota to a refinery of Irving Oil in New Brunswick. The outgoing from the destroyed tank cars of crude oil fell partially exploded in fire, at least 47 people died and more than 30 buildings were destroyed.

Starting position

The laden with crude oil freight train MMA 2 was heading east to Saint John (New Brunswick ) on the go. 1433 meters long and 9330 tons of train of five diesel locomotives was drawn. This was followed by an equipment cart, a loaded buffer cars and 72 tank cars of an older design, which, although is permitted because of their lower wall thickness in accidents more sensitive than more modern vehicles with thicker walls, as before the operation.

On July 5, 2013, around 23 clock EST, the train stopped in Nantes, where the engine driver for the night left the train. Since the overhaul of track, which was secured by a protection switch, was scheduled occupied by another train, he put his train on top of the continuous main track, which reported a fall of 12 per thousand. He switched from four of the five locomotives, the leading locomotive remained to supply the compressed air brakes of the train in operation. Next he moved, according to MMA at the hand brakes on the five locomotives and 10 other cars. The train remained unguarded and the locomotives were unlocked.

At 23:50 clock a fire was reported by a resident of Nantes, which had broken out at the locomotive in operation. The incoming local fire department turned off the engine to stop the diesel flow to the alleged fire. It also met a railway employee, who noted that it was not a fire, but just normal exhaust gases of the diesel locomotive. All participants left the place, and let the train back unguarded. None of the participants thought about putting a locomotive back on track, to keep the air brakes operational.

Circumstances of the accident

The hand brakes but not enough to hold the weight of the train permanently against the slope. The driverless train sat on the inclined track against 00:56 clock in motion and derailed after 11 kilometers in 100 meters below small town Lac- Mégantic, as he feels there a sharp turn and a top speed of only 16 km / h ( 10 mph ) was approved, with about 100 km / h went through, after a level crossing at the northern station entrance. The five locomotives were separated from the train and came only 800 meters east to a halt. 63 tank cars and the buffer cars derailed, where they were partially overturned and slid into each other. Only the last nine cars remained on the track.

By leaking oil caught the each 113,000 liters ( 25,000 Imp.gal. ) Crude oil -filled tank car fire. The outgoing initially with the driving speed of the train in the village also came burning oil into drains, where it spread and emerged elsewhere in the city as a tongue of flame from channel openings. It set several buildings on fire, in which the residents were asleep. Some of the tank car exploded. The nine non- derailed tank cars of the train were before they could catch fire, deducted from railway employees. About 120 firefighters from Lac- Mégantic, neighboring places, also from the United States, fought the fire, which was extinguished after more than 48 hours.

Follow

42 bodies were recovered were identified of which 34 directly. Five more people remained missing. It is assumed that they burned so far that there is no identifiable remains of more of them. The confirmed number of deaths was estimated as 26 July 2013 47.

About 30 buildings in the city center were destroyed and 2,000 residents evacuated temporarily. After about 100,000 liters of crude oil into the Rivière Chaudière flowed, threatened an oil spill.

The Premier of Quebec, Pauline Marois, the place visited on the day of the accident. The following day, also visited the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Lac- Mégantic.

The Canadian Transportation Security Administration ( Transportation Safety Board of Canada ) has issued two safety for the railway companies on July 19, 2013:

• First, it recommends that trains carrying dangerous goods should not be left unattended parked on the main track.
• On the other hand, a security policy should be revised, which deals with the application of hand brakes on unguarded trains, when it was found that the voltage applied to the injured Freight braking force was too small to prevent it from rolling away. So far, it is within the discretion of the driver training, establish the necessary braking force and the resulting number to hand -laying brakes.

The cost of remedying the damage to the two -square-kilometer area affected by the Lac- Mégantic city amounted to 8 million CAD. Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway ( MMA) estimated the total damage amounting to 200 million CAD ​​(144 million EUR ). As a result, exceeded the liabilities of MMA fixed assets, so that both in Canada ( Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Canada Co. - MMA Canada) as well as in the United States ( Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd. -. MMAR ) registered railway companies on August 7, 2013 bankruptcy had to sign up. Since the liability insurance of MMA covers up to $ 25 million only damage eluded the Canadian Transportation Agency ( the Canadian Transportation Agency, CTA) with effect from August 20, 2013 the two companies, the MMA license in Canada.

Accident investigation

Through the evaluation of the tachograph, the TSB hopes more insights as to how it could come to this disaster. Police are investigating, however.