Burkhardt In Quebec "To Make Things Right"; Left Suddenly Wed. Since Mayor Cancelled (She Didn't) [View all]

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Mr. Burkhardt reiterated the company’s goal of getting trains running again as soon as possible. “The biggest manufacturer, the biggest company in town, is Tafisa, and they badly need rail service,” Mr. Burkhardt said about the particle board company. “They are quite hobbled without rail service.”

Mr. Burkhardt said Sunday that the freight train’s engineer, who has been identified as Tom Harding, told company officials after the crash that he “probably applied handbrakes,” to all the cars. Mr. Burkhardt said he believes “there’s a lot of factors that created this situation that occurred, and what the engineer did or didn’t do, I’m sure, is part of it.”

Mr. Burkhardt said he has yet to speak directly with Mr. Harding. The Globe and Mail has been unable to reach Mr. Harding for comment over the past week.

Mr. Burkhardt said he came to the town of 6,000 Wednesday to help officials co-ordinate cleanup efforts, and to “make things right.” But he suddenly left town later that day. “I wasn’t able to meet with the right people,” he said. “We had a meeting set up with the mayor that she cancelled. And we wanted to speak with [the] Red Cross and the mayor said, ‘That has to go through my office.’” Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche said it was Mr. Burkhardt who cancelled the scheduled Wednesday afternoon meeting.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/railway-head-foresees-lengthy-presence-in-lac-megantic/article13215233/