Mainstream Media Reports That ‘Tampering’ Evident In Canadian Train Crash

Reports are circulating that Canadian authorities have discovered evidence that the train crash in Lac-Megantic was caused by tampering. Investigators plan to check the brakes once the crumpled, burned tankers are accessible.

15 people are confirmed to have died and 35 are still missing. The downtown area of Lac-Megantic is utterly devastated from the explosion that was caused when the train carrying 72 tanker cars full of crude oil jumped the tracks.

Firefighters in the nearby town of Nantes put out a separate blaze on the train shortly before it crashed into Lac-Megantic early Saturday. Ed Burkhardt, chief executive officer and president of Rail World, the parent company of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, has told media outlets there’s evidence the engine powering the brakes was shut down at some point. (source)

The blaze, which burned for 36 hours after the crash, lead to the evacuation of 2000 residents of the small town which is situated in Frontenac County Quebec.

A small fire had occurred on the train as it passed through Nantes, a few miles northwest of  Lac-Megantic. About an hour after firefighters in Nantes extinguished the fire, the train began rolling down the tracks and started to gain speed which was caused by a 1.2% downward slope.

“Usually they’re traveling between 5 and 10 miles an hour,” said Quebec police officer Benoit Richard. “On that night, this train was going at least between 30 and 40 miles an hour.” (source)

Transporting petroleum and other dangerous freight by rail is becoming increasingly common. These trains, often hundreds of yards long, often pass through towns and cities and it only takes a small event to turn the train into a rolling bomb that can all but wipe out an area of several blocks in size.

Last month, four Canadian Pacific rail cars carrying flammable petrochemicals used to dilute oil derailed on a flood-damaged bridge spanning Calgary’s Bow River, according to the Calgary Herald.

In another incident involving Canadian Pacific, five tankers containing oil derailed in rural Saskatchewan in May, spilling 575 barrels of crude, the Toronto Sun reported.

A month earlier, 22 Canadian Pacific rail cars jumped the tracks near White River, Ontario. Two of the cars leaked about 400 barrels — almost 17,000 gallons — of oil, The Globe and Mail in Toronto reported.

Canadian Pacific was also involved in a stateside spill in March. Fourteen cars on a mile-long, 94-car train derailed in western Minnesota, about 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis, spilling about 30,000 gallons of crude, Reuters reported.

A rail car can carry roughly 700 barrels of oil, with 42 gallons per barrel. (source)