anjinsan's Blogs

I give up Silly Machine...Gives it a kick 8-(

The unmanned Montreal, Maine

Part 2 > The unmanned Montreal, Maine

Canadian authorities say they have opened a criminal investigation into the fiery wreck of a runaway oil train in this small town as the death toll climbed to 15, with dozens more bodies feared buried in the burned-out ruins.

Quebec police Inspector Michel Forget said investigators have "discovered elements" that have led to a criminal probe. He gave no details but ruled out terrorism.

The death toll has risen today with the discovery of two more bodies. About three dozen more people were missing. The bodies that have been recovered were burned so badly they have yet to be identified.

Investigators zeroed in on whether a fire on the train a few hours before the disaster set off a deadly chain of events that has raised questions about the safety of transporting oil in North America by rail instead of pipeline.

The unmanned Montreal, Maine

I'm not sure how the braking systems on Canadian/US railways work, but here in the UK railway rolling stock brakes work on a 'fail safe' system. This way, if the vacuum pipes which link each carriage/wagon are disconnected or broken then the brakes automatically come on in order to prevent the huge potential for the tragedy which occured at Lac Megantic. I see no reason to doubt that the systems are not similar to ours which leaves the awful thought that this great sadness was the result of somebody either not doing their job properly or malicious intereference. I agree with you, davey. It is not beyond technical capability to build a pipeline to transport these huge quantities of oil in a much safer way than by rail. How many more innocent lives need to be lost before these companies are forced to put the safety of the people whose communities these trains run through above the profits of their shareholders?

Thanks Ron.Its so confusing as some reports say that the Train was running so the Main Brakes could work and that the fireman had to turn the engine off before the fire was put out as per Fire Safety rules there.They then reported that the engine company was then told of the Actions by firemen.WHATs the Bet they blame each other and we never fine out which of the 3 breaking systems failed.

it appears it was not the fireman rather railway employees who failed to secure the train after the fire with handbrakes on the lead cars..as for why the train started to move is suspicious...having been a railway employee years ago...the engineer would have "set he brakes" from the engine. if the engine was disconnected from the train as it should have been ..brakes on train could not be relaesed...very suspicious. someone was i enngine and relaesed train brakes

I just cant figure out what happened. I know there was a fire on the train the nigt before in nearby Nantes but why did the fireman not know that if they turn the engine off the brakes would turn off as well.Where were the train staff..Having a snoze while there train was trying to hold all those heavy carrigdes . Oil pipes are the only answer i say. I see that this is the 3rd accident in Canada in reasent times.

13 persons had been found at this time and 30 more are missing, it's a great tragedy for all of the Quebec. It's horrible what happend there. My sympathy to all the family..SAM xxx from Montreal.