Oil Train Disaster

[ghYHZ]

As everyone was watching the Asiana crash at SFO......another major disaster was (is) happening at Lac-Megantic, Quebec. A train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded and has wiped out a large part of the towns business district.  At least 5 are confirmed dead and 40 still reported missing.......It happened at 1am Saturday on a hot summer evening when the downtown bars and patios would have been packed.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/07/07/quebec-train-derailment-explosion-lac-megantic.html

Lac-Megantic is east of Montreal near the Maine border and would be close to the route of an extended A-10 and the long talked about corridor road across Maine to the Maritimes. And in fact, this is what the railway is question does now.....crosses Maine on the way to Saint John, New Brunswick (where the crude was bound.....to the Irving Oil Refinery) Lac-Megantic is where the Canadian & US railway crews change out.

Fire crews from Franklin County, Maine have also been dispatched to help.

[ghYHZ]

incredible high-res pictures of the disaster here......

http://www.spiq.ca/v2/ailleurs/2013_07_06_Incendie_Lac-Megantic/index.html

[webfil]

incredible high-res pictures of the disaster here......

http://www.spiq.ca/v2/ailleurs/2013_07_06_Incendie_Lac-Megantic/index.html

Thumbs way high up to Denis Lauzon, chief firefighter of Lac-Mégantic who was reported to have fought for over 40 hours.

Causes of the brake failure leading the unmanned train ― the engineer left the train waiting for a crew change ― to go down a 10-mile hill at high speed remain unknown. Death tolls could reach multiple dozens, as ±40 people are still missing and several bodies require lab identification.

[kkt]

incredible high-res pictures of the disaster here......

http://www.spiq.ca/v2/ailleurs/2013_07_06_Incendie_Lac-Megantic/index.html

Thumbs way high up to Denis Lauzon, chief firefighter of Lac-Mégantic who was reported to have fought for over 40 hours.

Causes of the brake failure leading the unmanned train ― the engineer left the train waiting for a crew change ― to go down a 10-mile hill at high speed remain unknown. Death tolls could reach multiple dozens, as ±40 people are still missing and several bodies require lab identification.

I'm still boggling at the entire concept of an unmanned train.  Is that SOP, or what?

[NE2]

It was parked. Apparently the parking brakes failed.

[Brandon]

Pipelines are a far safer way to transport oil than railroad cars.

Detroit News:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced he is heading to the town Sunday.

Because of limited pipeline capacity in North Dakota's Bakken region and in Canada, oil producers are using railroads to transport much of the oil to refineries on the East, Gulf and West coasts, as well as inland. Harper has called railroad transit "far more environmentally challenging"  while trying to persuade the Obama administration to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

[pctech]

From my understanding of how train brakes operate, this kind of accident is almost impossible. If the the tank cars uncoupled and rolled away  the air hose line would separate causing a quick drop in air pressure triggering the emergency air brake function. Generally when a train is left parked, the crew will also set the manual brakes on some the cars as well.
This will prove to be an interesting investigation.  As a general rule transporting cargo by train is very safe.

[NE2]

There's no safe way to transport and use oil that won't continue to overheat the planet.

[Brandon]

From my understanding of how train brakes operate, this kind of accident is almost impossible. If the the tank cars uncoupled and rolled away  the air hose line would separate causing a quick drop in air pressure triggering the emergency air brake function. Generally when a train is left parked, the crew will also set the manual brakes on some the cars as well.
This will prove to be an interesting investigation.  As a general rule transporting cargo by train is very safe.

Yes, it will.  I've heard, but cannot find again, that apparently these cars became uncoupled somehow.

My best guesses at this point are, a) crew error - somebody majorly screwed up, or b) terrorism of some kind - ecoterrorism to prove a point?.  The former is, unfortunately, far too common, while the latter is not unheard of.

[Dr Frankenstein]

I was out in Magog this weekend, with one of my intentions being doing some railfanning on that very same track, just further west; I learned about it when a fellow railfan called my cellphone while I was on my way. For those who ask, the Orford Express was still running, and no, I didn't go to Lac-Mégantic just to "check the wreckage out." I stayed in Magog.

Here's my take on the event (which cpziliacus already knows about) based on all the accounts I've heard, read or otherwise seen.

• The train was stopped in Nantes, QC for a crew change. They put brakes on and left. The next crew was expected to show up only in about three hours. Nantes is uphill from Lac-Mégantic.
• The leading engine caught fire shortly thereafter. No explanations for now but the engineer and the chief firefighter claim it may have been a diesel or oil leak.
• Firefighters came and put it out. The engineer inspected the engine and told the firefighers they could go. The engineer probably left as well.
• The train lost brakes and went downhill towards Lac-Mégantic. There's a wye in town, which I assume is safe to pass at maybe 15-20 mph. The train was doing 55-60 mph at that point. Cars jumped a curve or a switch and derailed, aroud the middle of the consist.
• At least one of the cars was punctured during the wreck, and a spark generated by the friction ignited the leaking oil which was running down the town's streets, possibly flowing into the sewer system and burning buildings from the inside. The tanks that weren't leaking exploded in BLEVEs. In the end, three entire blocks were set ablaze.

The engine fire that happened a couple of hours prior to the wreck is definitely surprising and unexpected, but the MM&A is known by local railfans as being cheap on maintenance; they're a Class 2 railroad running old stock on a tight budget. Their tracks are full of slow orders and their engines break down relatively often.

Unofficial reports say that, after the initial engine fire, the leading engine was no longer working, while other reports say that the engines had been uncoupled. In either case, it seems that there was no working air compressor to keep the pressure down in the brake line. Lack of maintenance may have caused air to bleed into the system and triggered the fast release system (described here: http://railway-technical.com/brake2.shtml#SpeedingUpRelease). There may not have been enough hand brakes put on to hold the train down in the grade. This is all speculation, though, and we will have to wait for the TSB's report in order to know what caused the engine to catch fire, whether or not the engines were attached to the train after the fire, and what caused the train to ultimately go astray.

[Brandon]

^^ OK, US news really didn't go into detail regarding the engine fire prior to the accident.  This sounds like it was definitely an internal thing and not any group or person from the outside.  The train engineer, or another competent person should have stayed on-site to make sure everything was still secure.  I'm sure we'll see the TSB of Canada report soon enough.

[pctech]

Interesting stuff, I hadn't read about the locomotive fire. Generally you leave one of the locomotives in consist running if the train is only going to parked for a few hours. This maintains the main brake pressure and eliminates the need to "walk the train" to inspect the brakes on each car for a full release and after a "cold start.
I once saw  a train here slowly moving a short consist of tank cars of which one had "stuck brakes". The wheels on that car were locked and no doubt had to be replaced after being dragged a few miles to the yard.

[AsphaltPlanet]

I was out in Magog this weekend...

Thanks for the write-up DrFrank.  I work for the MOE's emergency response centre here in Ontario.  We have had to deal with several fairly high profile train derailments across the province this year, and today the office has been abuzz with talk about this incident.

[Dr Frankenstein]

In terms of environmental impact, oil has been found flowing down the Chaudière River. The nearby cities of Saint-Georges and Sainte-Marie have set up emergency measures for their water supply, and an emergency response is currently underway to collect the oil. The MoE estimates the spill at about 100,000 litres, and claims it won't reach the St. Lawrence river.

On a different note, a lot of people believe that the MM&A won't survive this.