Massive petroleum train crash in Canada

[jopsuk]

this looks very, very bad

Quebec town rocked by explosions, fire after derailment

A train carrying crude oil derailed overnight in the heart of Lac-Mégantic in Quebec's Eastern Townships, sparking a major fire that led to the evacuation of 1,000 people from their homes.

Witnesses reported between four and six explosions overnight in the town of about 6,000 people. The derailment happened at about 1 a.m. ET, about 250 kilometres east of Montreal.

It is not yet known if there are any casualties, but several people have been reported missing and are feared dead.

Zeph Kee, who lives about 30 minutes outside of Lac-Mégantic, said he saw a huge fireball coming from the city's downtown.

Kee said several buildings and homes were completely flattened by the blast.

"It was total mayhem ... people not finding their kids," he said.

Isabelle Aller, who was visiting, says she has been calling her friends ever since the explosion. She hasn't heard from them since.

"The more time that passes, the more we are worried," she said.

Aller says after the first explosion, some people went to the scene to see what was going on.

Several explosions followed afterwards.

Somewhat confused- it seems the train was likely carrying something more refined than crude oil given it has exploded.

 

[TOCDriver]

this looks very, very bad


Somewhat confused- it seems the train was likely carrying something more refined than crude oil given it has exploded.

Probably both petrol and oil looking at the pictures. Something else (like petrol) would have had to have set fire to that oil to make it burn like that

 

[WatcherZero]

Word is four tanks of Light crude oil exploded. Train was parked with brakes on, crew left the train then it became a runaway.

Edit: additional info 77 fuel cars being hauled by five locomotives, all the cars got free of the locomotives and ran away 800m into the town before derailing

 

[John Webb]

A couple of the photos in the CBC report suggest the possibility of a 'BLEVE' (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion). A tank filled with a flammable liquid is cooked up in a fire causing the pressure to rise in the tank as the contents heat up. If the pressure vents on the tank can't cope with the amount of vapour trying to escape, the pressure continues to rise until the tank ruptures releasing a large quantity of liquid which immediately starts boiling off into vapour. Ignited, you get the massive fire-ball seen in the photos. This can happen with crude oil as well as with more refined products if the fire has been going long enough. And even crude oil will ignite from a small source if as a result of the crash it was splashed about as a tank was punctured or otherwise broken.
John Webb
(Retired Fire Researcher)

 

[jopsuk]

Of course this would have been a heck of a lot less serious were it for not for the crash happening in the middle of town. In open countryside this would have been spectacular and a bit disruptive to operations. It's the location that means it is a tragedy.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Are driverless freight trains something that ever occurs in Canada ? I mention this as I saw reference to this type of operation recently ?

 

[krus_aragon]

Are driverless freight trains something that ever occurs in Canada ? I mention this as I saw reference to this type of operation recently ?

That was my first thought, but on further reading understood that the driver had left the train parked and that it then ran away. According to this list on Wikipedia the only driverless operations in Canada are passenger rapid transit systems: Vancouver's SkyTrain and the inter-terminal LINK train at Toronto's Pearson airport.

 

[talltim]

I think it's newspapers getting the wrong end of the stick. The train was 'tied down' (parked up awaiting a relief crew) and somehow ran away. So driverless yes, but not in the same way as say the DLR

 

[WatcherZero]

Death toll increased to 3, still dozens unaccounted for but they could simply be on holiday, visiting relatives, etc...

Edit: Now risen to 5 with 40 still missing, two carriages still burning 36 hours later and a fifth car cooked off at some point during the firefighting, firefighters are still remaining 1000ft away.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Although speculation is futile after such a tragedy, it is worth noting that the majority of domestic properties in Canada are timber framed, either with timber of plastic/vinyl cladding. There's a lot of flammable material in this small town, and very few masonry structures to provide shelter from such a horrific blast.

Estrie is a simply beautiful part of Canada: gentle rolling hills, fertile agricultural land, deep forests; all too often forgotten because of its location in the south eastern corner of Quebec province.

 

[38Cto15E]

Wasn't there a movie a couple of years ago where a freight train ran away and became derailed in a town?

 

[Darandio]

Wasn't there a movie a couple of years ago where a freight train ran away and became derailed in a town?

You mean "Unstoppable"? Yeah, it was sort of like that. It was also "sort of" based on a true story as well.

 

[WatcherZero]

13 dead, missing now 40.

 

[carriageline]

From what I read, it seems after stabling the train the locos where shut down, causing the brakes to leak off, and then they rolled back into some LPG tanks, and we have to above disaster

RIP to all this affected.

 

[LexyBoy]

A horrific incident for those involved, I can't imagine what it must feel like to be asked to provide something that might have strands of hair from missing loved ones.

Once again I am shocked at how a railway can operate with a "fail unsafe" system for something as vital as brakes. If the reports are correct that the runaway was caused by the loco being shut down then it was only a matter of time before this happened. I remember watching Unstoppable and thinking that the basic premise (the engineer failing to couple the air brake line up, meaning the train was unbraked) was flawed – only to find out that this is exactly what happened in the CSX-8888 incident which the film is based on.

 

[edwin_m]

Air brakes are only failsafe in the sense that loss of air will stop the train and keep it stopped for a certain period of time. After a while (usually hours) the air leaks out of the system, there is nothing to press the shoes against the wheel treads and the brakes are useless. Similarly if somebody fails to connect the brake pipe.

Some more recent designs of brake are applied by springs and therefore can be used as parking brakes, but I very much doubt a secondary railroad in Canada would have anything like that. Hence it is essential that parking brakes and/or wagon hand brakes are manually applied when leaving a train unattended.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

This sad incident reminds me of the incident that led to the fire caused by a rail accident on 29th June 2009 at Viareggio station in the Tuscany region.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

According to today's Daily Telegraph, the train was correctly parked but the fire brigade were ttending a problem with the locomotive. They therefore shut the locomotive down and this caused the brakes to slowly bleed off...

Still the question of failsafe, of course.



Edited to add: BBC News 24 report currently saying investigators have found the train was travelling well over the speed limit when it derailed. Somewhat of a statement of the blindingly obvious, wouldn't you think?

 

[yorkie]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23246450
Long article, but here are some key parts:-

Canada train blast: Blame game over Lac-Megantic disaster

The train, carrying 72 cars of crude oil, was parked shortly before midnight on Friday in the town of Nantes.

An engineer apparently left the train with four of its five locomotives shut down, but kept the final one on to ensure the brakes were engaged.

Officials in Nantes then received a call about a fire on the train.

Nantes Fire Chief Patrick Lambert said that while his crews tackled that blaze, the final locomotive was shut down.

Shortly afterwards, the driverless train rolled downhill seven miles (11km) before derailing and exploding in Lac-Megantic.

So they have locos that need power for the brakes to be engaged by the sound of it.

And there's a debate about communication after the fire crews shut down the loco. They say they informed the train company of what they did, but the train company denies it (pethaps they told the wrong people, who didn't understand what they were being told and what the implications were).

 

[edwin_m]

If it is standard operating procedure to secure a train in that way, particularly on a gradient, then I am quite frankly horrified.

 

[fsmr]

Echo the last, relying on a locomotive engine to keep running to maintain air pressure unattended to prevent a runaway is certainly a recipe for disaster. Not to mention the risk of unauthorised person taking control and going for a drive like the two class 31s at Cricklewood North London circa 1987, or maybe folks dont do that in Canada

On another note, many North American steam locos never had parking brakes and relied on chocks or chains under the wheel while stationary in the yard. Case in point being the NYC Niagara 484 class. Our own 1/5th scale also denude of a parking brake as per full size which means that if the loco starts to loose steam pressure and you cant make air via the compressors there is s a risk of loosing all braking. At least good old British locos have a nice powerful mechanical tender brake

Also, correct me if I am wrong but would the UK fire service or UK Police enter railway property to tackle a fire without being accompanied by NWR BTP or TOC staff?

Bit on here about it
Ex EWS Ed Burkhardt is quoted as saying loco was tampered with

THE chairman of the company whose train exploded in downtown Lac-Megantic says he is certain it was tampered with.

"We have evidence of this," said Ed Burkhardt, of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway. "But this is an item that needs further investigation. We need to talk to some people we believe to have knowledge of this."

On Sunday, however, the company isssued a statement saying their officials had been so far unable to conduct their own investigation.

Nearly 40 people are still missing, not counting the 13 unidentified victims, suggesting the death toll was likely to rise sharply.

Officials were looking at a locomotive blaze on the same train in a nearby town a few hours before the derailment.

Transportation Safety Board investigator Donald Ross said the locomotive's black box has been recovered, and investigators were examining whether the air brakes or the hand brake malfunctioned.

"The extent to which (the fire) played into the sequences of events is a focal point of our investigation," Mr Ross said.


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world-news/m...ed/story-fndir2ev-1226676847377#ixzz2YaNpq0C9

 

[edwin_m]

Someone has posted a link to an American railroad rule book on another forum. The road in question (not the one involved in that incident) has clear rules for applying sufficient handbrakes when leaving a train unattended, and releasing the air brakes to check that this has in fact been done.

So, assuming this road has the same rules, it seems to me that either the rules weren't followed and the train was left with insufficient handbrakes applied, or the handbrakes were somehow interfered with after the crew had left. The issue of the air brakes possibly leaking off when the engine was shut down is secondary, as nobody should have been relying on these in the first place.

 

[carriageline]

The company in question (who runs the train) has already posted numerous bulletins/press releases about the incident, and it was all ran according to procedure, of course until the first loco was shut down. So no need for speculation

At the same time, why hand brakes are not used I don't know. Or why a loco is left unattended but running. But I know f all

 

[LexyBoy]

Air brakes are only failsafe in the sense that loss of air will stop the train and keep it stopped for a certain period of time. After a while (usually hours) the air leaks out of the system, there is nothing to press the shoes against the wheel treads and the brakes are useless. Similarly if somebody fails to connect the brake pipe.

Some more recent designs of brake are applied by springs and therefore can be used as parking brakes, but I very much doubt a secondary railroad in Canada would have anything like that. Hence it is essential that parking brakes and/or wagon hand brakes are manually applied when leaving a train unattended.

Ah, I thought that most air brakes (used here at least) were of the type using a spring to apply the brake. Having read up I see this is not the case.

As other posts have said though, the procedure should still rely on more than one level of protection. If the air brakes are not failsafe (in this context) then hand brakes must be used, and/or only parking up in yards protected with trap points.

 

[68000]

Seems very reckless to be stabling huge dangerous trains in those operating conditions. Why were there no catch points to mitigate runaways?

 

[eMeS]

Seems very reckless to be stabling huge dangerous trains in those operating conditions. Why were there no catch points to mitigate runaways?

Perhaps the train derailed at the first catch points it met?

 

[pablo]

If you look at Google Earth you will see it ran back east down the mainline from Nantes and seems to have come a cropper at the first bifurication in the track, at Lac-Megantic.

There appears to be no sidings at Nantes but half a kilometre east, a two kilometre passing loop starts. No indication of catch-points.

Many photos of the track there and the decrepit state is evident in some of them.

 

[khib70]

http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/M%C3%A9gantic+Conductor+bravery+have+prevented+greater/8637628/story.html

According to Yves Bourdon, an executive of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, which owned and operated the train that was carrying crude oil through the Eastern Townships, Harding was asleep at a hotel in Lac-Mégantic when he heard the explosions.
Bourdon said Harding jumped on a rail tractor and managed to pull the pins to release nine tanker cars that would otherwise have added fuel to the flames, risking his own life: “When he heard the explosion and heard what had happened, he released the couplings and pulled off nine wagons,” Bourdon told radio station 98.5 FM Tuesday morning. “If not, if those nine wagons had stayed there, there was a possibility with all the heat that was there and all, of other explosions and also fire,” Bourdon said.

It would appear that the engineer, Tom Harding, not only followed procedure, but heroically uncoupled and removed wagons from the fire with a Trackmobile, preventing more explosions. If so, a fine addition to the long history of courageous and selfless action by railway staff in disaster situations. His distress at the accident is only too understandable.

And some interesting comments on the railway company itself, and the state of their track etc.....

 

[yorkie]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23264397

Rail World boss Ed Burkhardt said he did not believe the last engineer had set a series of hand brakes, despite the engineer's protestations.

"It was questionable whether hand brakes were put I place at this time," Mr Burkhardt said.

"I don't think any employees removed brakes. They failed to set the brakes."

He said a train engineer had been suspended without pay.

So it sounds like the hand brakes may not have been set, so for the train to remain in place, they were relying on the loco being powered...

 

[WatcherZero]

Similar story says the Engineer claimed to have set 11 hand brakes but the company despite originally believing the story no longer believes he set that amount if any.