Persistent digging will do it. The Montréal papers finally obtained an un-redacted copy of the report.
Very interesting.
Yes, indeed. Small wonder that the “official” initial version was heavily redacted. OTOH just as Craig predicted the guy who really should have been charged and appear in court gets away again.
Another socialist activist posing as a reporter, cherry-picking a few facts and spinning a story to fit his anti-oil agenda.
Thank You HJ for that bit of info! Now will the Government and the RR get together perform the necessary maintenance on the trackage to keep rail transportation safe. I have always said “deferred maintenance” would bit them in the back side. They (the RR) are not saving money by doing that and it endangers too many people by doing it. They are now running 100 car coal trains through Washington and the high population areas of the Puget Sound with out requiring the RR to do any more grade separation of track and roads.
We need double track all the way (to move more trains) and NO AT GRADE CROSSINGS!
E. Paul Austin said:
Thank You HJ for that bit of info! Now will the Government and the RR get together perform the necessary maintenance on the trackage to keep rail transportation safe. I have always said “deferred maintenance” would bit them in the back side. They (the RR) are not saving money by doing that and it endangers too many people by doing it. They are now running 100 car coal trains through Washington and the high population areas of the Puget Sound with out requiring the RR to do any more grade separation of track and roads.
We need double track all the way (to move more trains) and NO AT GRADE CROSSINGS!
Hmmmm, the railroad was there first, then the gummint came along and put in a road, with a grade crossing, because it was the cheapest option. Now the gummint wants the railroad to fund the separation project?
What’s wrong with this picture?
Would the issue be any different if it was 100 cars of Apples and cherries, peaches, It would still be 100 cars long. Apples don’t explode, Cherries don’t explode, and neither does coal. The most dangerous cargo in a city is the local tanker trucks hauling gasoline to the local 7/11s. 4000 gal. of very explosive fuel right next to a school bus, and NOBODY cries “Regulate” to them.…
$ .02 worth.
Well Paul, if you want to remove grade crossings than start donating money to your local government. The railroads grant easement for cities, counties, etc to build grade crossings. If the RR decides to eliminate a grade crossing they can! Over/Under approaches cost a lot of $ and the RR’s don’t want to spend it, when a perfectly good crossing is already in place. Grade separation usually comes when the municipality says we’ll pay for 80-90% of the cost. And the RR says okay as the track speed increases for a minimal cost.
Oh, and if everyone is crying wolf over oil shipments you should be much, much more worried about the rest of the HAZMAT stuff that gets shipped everyday, say chlorine gas.
‘The Quebec government has undertaken legal action against MMA for compensation for the estimated $409 million cleanup cost of the disaster, but the bankrupt railway’s insurance is only good for $25 million, and the government agrees that those moneys should first go to the families of the victims. CP Rail, Irving Oil and the other members of the consortium are denying any responsibility for the cleanup.’
This will all end in tears, friends. A terrible provincial tragedy made into an appalling national tragedy by default.
Surely there is a requirement in Canadian company law that requires a ‘worst possible case’ liability likelihood?
Does the term ‘risk assessment’ not figure somewhere in here?
tac
Ray Dunakin said:
Another socialist activist posing as a reporter, cherry-picking a few facts and spinning a story to fit his anti-oil agenda.
Unfortunately the head honcho of Railworld (and formerly the MMA) has a track record, that is well documented in more official channels than Wikipedia. But since Wikipedia is conveniently easy to access, one doesn’t have to search far and wide for the gist of the matter.
Craig Townsend said:
…
Oh, and if everyone is crying wolf over oil shipments you should be much, much more worried about the rest of the HAZMAT stuff that gets shipped everyday, say chlorine gas.
Yep, back in 1979 we were just slightly outside the evacuation zone of the Mississauga Train Disaster http://tinyurl.com/cg9o78j
It was a matter of prevailing wind directions in that case NW
218’000 people were evacuated http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/3134939-derailment-changed-our-history/
@Dave T -
I am defending neither condition, however (1) 4,000 gallon tank truck does far less damage than the (I am not sure of the exact capacity) of a modern rail tank car of probably 10,000 gallons ore more. One truck vs a train load of 50 - 100 cars, all connected together, and the potential for disaster is far different. As for the article is concerned, my position is that if the railroads are so insistent on confidentiality, maybe they do have something to hide. Simply put, it the railroads would voluntarily work toward safer transportation, there would be no need of regulation. Regulation only comes into play when the things they SHOULD do, don’t happen because stock holders pockets are a higher priority than public safety. I simply don’t agree with the current atmosphere of litigate the occurrences and gag the outcome so the public never learns the truth.
My tuppence.
Bob C.
Another tank car involved here but it was, truthfully, a motor vehicle accident.
Alan Lott said:
Another tank car involved here but it was, truthfully, a motor vehicle accident.
“No drugs or alcohol are believe to have played a factor in the crash.”
Just felony stupidity.
One person crews just seem like a bad idea to me. Safety third and money first. With the money this accident will cost the railroad, I doubt they will ever see any profit from eliminating a crew-member.
Patrick Kramer said:
One person crews just seem like a bad idea to me. Safety third and money first. With the money this accident will cost the railroad, I doubt they will ever see any profit from eliminating a crew-member.
MM&A declared bankruptcy faster than one can say “Holy cow, what really happened?” shortly after the disaster. Just too bad that Railworld apparently can’t be held responsible. Another entity I would dearly love to see called to account is Transport Canada. They should have shut that place down long ago. The same goes for permission of one man crews, just nuts!
The next move of course is - no crew on the train.
All rremote control operations
You all know how dependable that will be
Bill
Bill Ewing said:
The next move of course is - no crew on the train.
All rremote control operations
You all know how dependable that will be
Bill
What could possibly go wrong?
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