Quebec train set too few brakes, engineer “under police control” [View all]
Source: Bangor Daily News
The handbrake is the railroad industry’s ultimate fail-safe mechanism. It is supposed to help avert disasters like the one that engulfed a Canadian town on Saturday, when a runaway train loaded with oil hurtled downhill, derailed and exploded, leaving 50 people dead or missing.
The railroad initially blamed the catastrophe on the failure of the train’s pneumatic airbrakes after an engine fire, but the company acknowledged on Wednesday that the train’s engineer did not apply an adequate number of handbrakes to hold the train in place, and failed to comply with regulations.
A Reuters review of Canadian and U.S. regulations found that rail operators are given considerable leeway to decide how many handbrakes are sufficient for any given train, depending on track conditions and the weight of the cargo.
Operators are only required to apply enough of the handbrakes — one is found on every railcar — to ensure the train will not move even if other safety features, such as air brakes, falter.
Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2013/07/11/news/state/quebec-train-set-too-few-brakes-with-deadly-result/
I've been to Lac Magantic many times. It once had great little French-Canadian restaurant (seafood, escargot and frogs legs) and the waterfront park (where the derailment occurred) was beautiful....
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