Runaway Quebec Train's Owner Battled Safety Issues

[bluedigger]

10. Disaster should prompt state to examine rail regs

The runaway train was like a rolling bomb on rails.

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Ed Burkhardt, chairman of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic, told the Bangor Daily News on Monday that the train had been properly prepared by the crew, but when firefighters put out a small fire under the engine Friday night, after the train had been prepared for the night, the air compressor that controls the air brake was turned off, allowing the brakes to fail.

He also assured Mainers that such a crew change, where the train is allowed to be left unattended, is not permitted in the U.S.

Good thing. And now perhaps Canada will review its regulations, and agree that leaving a train with tanker cars loaded with oil or any other hazardous material unattended is not a good idea.

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On Monday, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Transportation told Maine Public Broadcasting the state follows federal regulations regarding the transport of oil. The state should not simply abdicate its responsibility to the feds. MDOT and any other pertinent state agencies should be reviewing the federal regulations.

Let's use this terrible incident, which happened only miles from our border, as an opportunity to examine the federal regulations that govern the transportation of such materials through our state to make sure they do what's necessary to reduce the possibility of such a disaster here.

Don't assume the feds have it right; in Canada they didn't.

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/our-view/2013/07/09/disaster-should-prompt-state-examine-rail-regs/1389950