The Lac-Mégantic Derailment In Canada

927 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Advantages and disadvantages of maintenance

Lac-Mégantic Derailment Abstract: The Lac-Mégantic derailment occurred on July 6, 2013 in the town of Lac-Mégantic, which is located in the Eastern Townships of the Canadian province of Quebec and has population of about 6,000.The disaster occurred when a 74-car freight train, through a complex series of events, ran away and derailed. The events that led to the disaster included an inadequate repair on the lead locomotive’s engine, a lack of the necessary amount handbrakes, weak safety training for Montreal, Maine & Atlantic (MM&A) staff, and a failure of federal oversight. Background: -The Train: The train that derailed was designated “MMA 2” and was 4701 ft. long and weighed 10,287 tons. The train consisted of five locomotives in the …show more content…

MM&A performed a low-cost “non-standard” repair on the damaged engine. Because of the time and cost for a standard repair, along with the pressure to return the locomotive to service, the engine was inadequately repaired with an epoxy-like material that lacked the proper strength and durability. The repair eventually failed, leading to a series of problems in the engine and an accumulation of oil in the turbocharger and exhaust manifold. -Second Event: Two days before the crash occurred, an engineer on a separate trip had reported some trouble with the locomotive’s engine. Despite the concerns with the engine, the locomotive was put at the head of the train and was bound for Nantes. The engineer, Tom Harding, noticed that the engine was surging, making it difficult to keep a steady pace. By the time that the train arrived in Nantes, it was spewing enough smoke and oil that the taxi driver noticed oil landing on the cab’s window. Mr. Harding reported and discussed the issue with a rail traffic controller who was in Bangor, Maine. Both agreed to deal with the matter the following morning. The locomotive was then left …show more content…

Firefighters extinguished the fire and then shut down the locomotive. When the locomotive was shut down, no other locomotive was started. This meant that the air compressor was left off while the air brakes were slowly leaking. The train’s “reset safety control” system, which sets the entire train’s brakes should the engine fail, was not wired to go off. About an hour after firefighters shut down the train, the pressure in the air brakes had dropped low enough to allow the train to start rolling. The derailed 17 minutes later when it was 11.6 kilometers (7.21 mi)

Show More
Related

  • Amtrak's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is their task to find all affected stakeholders involved and make sure to meet their needs. It is also important that they increase their public relations. When an incident like this happens, the public rarely will remember the small details that it wasn’t even Amtrak’s fault. All that will be remembered is that Amtrak had a huge crash that killed 47 people. It is important for Amtrak to recognize this and work towards having customers forget and see the new regulations in place to help prevent this from occurring again in the

    Read More

  • Review of the Inquiry of Air India Flight 182: A Canadian Tragedy

    1528 Words  | 4 Pages

    On June 23, 1985, a bomb was planted on Air India Flight 182 that exploded and killed the 329 passengers and crew while airborne (Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182: Final report, 2010). A second bomb at Tokyo’s Narita Airport killed two baggage handlers that were unloading luggage from a Canadian Pacific Airlines flight, the baggage was also prepared to be on the Air India flight. Sikh terrorists were responsible for planting the two bombs. In total 331 people were killed (CIIBAIF 182, 2010).

    Read More

  • Railway Electrification: In the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    Electric traction had numerous advantages over steam railroads. One major advantage was electric locomotive’s ability to pull heavier loads than steam locomotives (Bezilla, 30-31). One statement from electrical manufacturers’ stated that an electric locomotive could pull from five times its own weight on a 2% grade, whereas a steam locomotive on the same grade could only pull two times its own weight (Bezilla, 31). In addition to this, the electric motors could sustain higher currents for a short time in order to increase horsepower dramatically; steam engines had no analogous feature (Bezilla, 31). These factors combined allowed for electric locomotives to accelerate more rapidly, even while pulling more weight, than steam locomotives (Bezilla, 31). The electric motor also had less moving parts and thus needed less maintenance than complex steam engines (Bezilla, 31). For example, the Pennsylvania Railroad’s electric locomotives in 1940 were typically running 90% of the time, but the steam locomotives that the electric ones replaced had only ran 69% of the time (Bezilla, 32). The...

    Read More

  • Boston Marathon Bombings

    1908 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Tsarnaev brothers carry backpacks to two locations near the finish line on Boylston Street. Tamerlan, the older brother, placed his bomb near the finish line at 2:42 p.m. just seven minutes before the first blast. He placed the backpack so the lid of the pressure cooker faced the crowd to cause the most damage (Nova, 2013). Just four minutes before the first blast, the younger brother, Dzhokhar positioned his device near the Forum restaurant. At 2:50 p.m. the cheers turn to terror as the first blast rocked the crowd near the finish line and 10 seconds later, another blast only a block away in front of the Forum restaurant, devastated this annual event just four hours and ten minutes after the race began (Barrett, Shallwani, & Perez, 2013). After that blast, the injured are everywhere. Eight year old Martin Richard, 29 year old Krystle Campbell and 23 year old Lu Lingzi lost their lives that day, 14 others lost limbs. A total of 264 people were injured from the explosions (Bodden, 2014, p. 21). As the chaos was going on the Tsarnaev brothers calmly, but quickly, leave the scene. They had completed their dirty deed and probably thought they would get away with it.

    Read More

  • How Did The Sunset Limited Attack

    858 Words  | 2 Pages

    “At a news conference in Washington, the president and chairman of Amtrak, Thomas M. Downs, said the derailment had been caused by the removal of bolts that hold a 36-inch-long connecting bar to two pieces of 39-foot-long rail” (Mydans, 1995, para. 18). “Amtrak executives said that the derailment was an act of sabotage that could have taken one person only 10 minutes to carry out” (Mydans, 1995, para. 16). The most interest part is that whom ever moved the railroad tracks left no traces of their work other than the letters and had to know the wiring system of the railroad track. The railroad track has sensors in it so that if it moves the conductor knows to stop the train or find out what is wrong up ahead. The next part of this that makes no sense is that Amtrak says that one man can move 39 feet rail 2 degrees which weigh roughly 130 pounds per yard (Wabtec, 2017). There is absolutely no way that one man jumped the track wiring and then moved 1690 pounds of track in ten minutes. Moreover, the area that the train was derailed was in the middle of nowhere. The closest road was 38 miles away. Two decades later the FBI has not been able to figure out who committed this crime and has offered a $300,000 reward for information to capture the terrorist. This paper will discuss two possible suspects that could have derailed the train Sons of the Gestapo and a government conspiracy

    Read More

  • Lac-Megantic Train Disaster Case Study

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Lac-Megantic rail disaster tilts more to the Area One of the factor analytical model due to several reasons. This disaster was controllable due to the fact that the train was originally not repaired the way it should have been 8 months prior, the main focus was a short term patch up job on the train after the locomotive suffered engine failure. The locomotive was repaired using an epoxy like material that failed and led to a fire, this lead to the train being evacuated and finally set it on its rouge decent leading to its derailment. Although the train derailment was a horrible accident to the city of Nantes, Quebec it was not on the scale of being a global catastrophe, it is limited to a city wide emergency. The actions of individuals did play a role along with many other factors, but it cannot be said that it was any illegal action that led to this accident.

    Read More

  • September 11: The Crash Of 9/11 In New York City

    1396 Words  | 3 Pages

    On September11, 2001 at 8:46 am an American Airline Plane carrying 96 passengers crashed into the side of the north Twin Tower in New York City. Several minutes later another plane crashed into the second Twin Tower. It didn’t take long after the second plane struck for the second tower to fully collapse. At 10:28 am the first tower followed suite and collapsed leaving many people including fire fighters and police officers trapped in the debris from the falling towers. The debris from the falling towers also caused the surrounding building to catch a fire, including World Trade 7 which at 5:20 pm collapsed luckily they were able to evacuate the building. Over 3,000 people were killed that day in New York City and in Washington, D.C. The days after 9/11 brought a significant amount of change to our country.

    Read More

  • Modane Train Outline

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    This meant that there was only one available to transport the 1,000 soldiers. It was decided to combine and operate the two trains as one, coupling them together and putting them in the charge of a single 4-6-0 engine. This resulted in the train consisting of 19 coaches, much more than a one locomotive could handle at the time. Normally, it should only have been allowed to pull trains of about one quarter of the weight of this troop train. Of these coaches the first three had air brakes and the others consisted of hand-brakes or no brakes at all. This made the train’s ability to stop inadequate, however it still departed even with these safety concerns. The main railroad line crosses the Alps through the Mont Cern tunnel emerging on the French side at Modane station. After passing through, it descended into a valley that became very steep. As the locomotive began the descent, the engineer/operator applied the brakes. However, the train was too heavy and the brakes were able to slow it down. It steadily collected speed as it continued its descent. The brakes became overheated causing fires to break out under the coaches. The train continued for approximately 4 miles (6 km/h) until at an estimated 75 mph (120 km/h) when the first coach became derailed. The rest of the train piled-up against it, causing the wooden coaches immediately catching fire. They burned with such intensity that of the 800 or so who died, only 425 bodies could be

    Read More

  • The Ashtabula Bridge Tragedy

    1199 Words  | 3 Pages

    On December 29, 1876, a train was crossing over a railroad bridge spanning the Ashtabula River when the entire bridge collapsed, sending most of the train into the frigid water below. This disaster would be the deadliest bridge disaster in the United States. Investigators quickly tried to determine why this bridge, after eleven years of service, collapsed. The investigators would ultimately place the blame on the president of the Ashtabula Railroad Company, Amasa Stone. The bridge was constructed with many flaws, both known and unknown. This disaster would lead to people realizing the need for structural standards for bridges and qualified engineers.

    Read More

  • The Three Mile Island Accident

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    When someone thinks of problems plaguing the world, nuclear energy is not the first thing that comes to peoples minds these days.[1]Nuclear power was once deemed the new energy of the future.[2]However, numerous nuclear power plant accidents around the world put a damper on that notion.The United States considers itself one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, but 103 nuclear reactors currently operating within her borders, one was bound to fail sometime or another.[3]

    Read More

  • Quilty: The Boston Marathon Terror Attack

    277 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the first place, the quilt square that I wanted to embody was one that represented the Boston Marathon terror attack, April 15th, 2013. In light of the fact that Boston is so close to my home, this terror act felt personal and resonated profoundly with a vast amount of people in New Hampshire who had family that either ran or knew people that ran in the marathon. Furthermore, the center of my quilt depicts the image of runners, representing the American flag and the caption above is so symbolic of the motto that came out after this horrific event and that is “Boston Strong”. To be sure, Boston wanted the world to know that they would remain strong and continue this tradition that has gone on since 1897. As an illustration, I made sure

    Read More

  • An Analysis of the Crash of Air France Flight 4590

    1462 Words  | 3 Pages

    The excitement among people was cut short by the unfortunate delay in flight, because of maintenance on one of its engines. The passengers boarded the plane a couple of hours after the scheduled time. Finally, it was cleared for taxi on runway 26-Right. The pilots lined the aircraft parallel to the runway. A tragic accident, however, was about to happen.

    Read More

  • Otto Research Paper

    480 Words  | 1 Pages

    engine. During his time while looking into Lenoir’s new engine he later on met a

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Paris Terrorist Attack

    387 Words  | 1 Pages

    Europe has many current issues happening throughout the days. They all happen for a reason and make Europe grow stronger each time. The Terrorist Attack in Paris was one of the many events that happened and has many advantages and disadvantages that come along with it and makes the European Nation how it is today.

    Read More

  • Causes Of The Halifax Explosion

    609 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Halifax Explosion occurred in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. During that time, Halifax was booming, it was military town and had the largest population in Atlantic Canada; 50,000 people. On both sides of Halifax’s harbour, business and industry were booming as factories, foundries, and mills were the demands of a wartime economy. The explosion took place on the morning of December 6, 1917. SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship fully loaded with wartime explosives, was involved in a collision with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin. Approximately twenty minutes later, a fire on board the French ship ignited the ship’s explosive cargo, causing a disastrous explosion that devastated the surrounding areas of the Halifax harbour. Approximately 2,000 people were killed by debris, fires, and collapsed buildings, and it is estimated that nearly 9,000 others were injured. The devastating incident could have been prevented/minimized i if the Monte-Blanc had raised a flag, warning the people of their dangerous cargo, if the...

    Read More

More about The Lac-Mégantic Derailment In Canada

Open Document