Just chewing down a couple Boston Globe beetle grubs....
"Derailment in Quebec heightens train cargo fears; Industry poorly regulated, critics say" by Brian MacQuarrie and Alyssa Botelho | Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent, July 13, 2013
LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec — For the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, that practice was business as usual — but business as usual turned catastrophic when the unattended train rumbled downhill into the heart of Lac-Megantic, jumped the tracks, and unleashed billowing fireballs that left 24 confirmed dead and 26 missing.
Now, data provided by the Federal Railroad Administration in Washington show that the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic, a 10-year-old railroad with 510 miles of track in Maine, Vermont, and Quebec, has a higher rate of accidents and incidents, such as leaks, than the average for small US railroads....
The previous accidents did not result in fatalities for the Maine-based railroad. President Robert Grindrod dismissed many of the accidents as insignificant fender-benders in rail yards.
“In 10 years, this is the only significant derailment we’ve had,” Grindrod said.
Grindrod told the Globe that having only a single crew member was not an issue in the tragedy. However, the single engineer aboard the train apparently did not set the brakes properly, according to Edward Burkhardt, chairman of the railway’s parent company.
“Single staffing of freight trains is a controversial practice,” said Seth Kaplan, vice president of the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston, “and this incident illustrates why, for sound safety reasons, many railways avoid doing it.”
In the United States, single staffing is legal but rare, according to Kevin Thompson, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration....
Although railroad executives and trade groups say the industry has a stellar safety record, most US communities are in the dark about the cargo that trains carry through their neighborhoods.
Literally because that's when they roll through around here.
Sara Lavoie, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, said the federal government has sole oversight of the railroads, and that private freight operators such as the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic are responsible for their own maintenance and administration.
“As a transportation agency, there is nothing we can do to approve or deny the transport of cargo along our lines,” Lavoie said.“If there’s a derailment, we just take care of the issue presented to us. All we can do is respond.”
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In Bangor, a city used by the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic, Assistant Fire Chief Anthony Riitano said he also lacks advance information about the cargo.
“I don’t want a dozen carloads of oil coming through town, but there’s not much we can do. Trains will come through with what they’re carrying whether we like it or not,” Riitano said.
Railroads and the government deliberately cloak the identity of hazardous rail cargo.
“As you can imagine, this information is considered by the Transportation Security Administration to be security-sensitive information and is carefully handled,” said Julia Wise, spokeswoman for the Association of American Railroads, an industry trade group.
Local emergency officials will be provided with cargo information only if an official written response is submitted, Wise said.
This spring, Global Petroleum proposed plans to transport ethanol via MBTA commuter-rail tracks in densely populated areas north and west of Boston — including Cambridge, Somerville, Chelsea, and Everett — to reach a company terminal at Revere.
At the request of Somerville officials, the state Department of Transportation conducted a risk assessment and recommended the trains travel at the slowest possible speeds, follow rigorous schedules to avoid conflicts with other trains, and ensure that fire suppression systems and track equipment be kept in good working conditions.
The company withdrew its plans July 2, Lavoie said, after fierce backlash from Chelsea residents who were concerned about the transport of flammable liquids through the city.
Such concerns are well-founded, according to critics, who argue the railroad industry is using risky, aging equipment at the same time that its oil business is surging in North America, a haul fed by an oil boom in the upper Midwest, including the Bakken fields in North Dakota where the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic cargo that later exploded originated.
It's a frack job, but don't worry about your water supply.
Much of that oil is hauled by tanker cars, called DOT-111s, that US transportation officials have warned are prone to rupture in a derailment. The oil that fueled the Lac-Megantic explosions was carried in such tankers, which Stewart said are thin-shelled and lack shields for valves and other vulnerable pieces of equipment....
But fill 'em up and board!!
Olivia Chow, an opposition member of Parliament from Toronto who specializes in transportation, and her party, the New Democrats, are calling for an end to the practice of using only one engineer aboard a train when dangerous goods are being transported.
The crew member responsible for the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic train that devastated Lac-Megantic was miles away, resting and waiting for a replacement, when his hazardous cargo hurtled toward town....
Nothing about the fire earlier that called authorities to the train, any mention of the engineer being held in police custody, nor the first-responders becoming ill as they try to "reconstruct how the train became a runaway." Interesting.
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Related: Blog Back on Track
Not in France:
"Six killed as train carrying vacationers derails outside Paris" by Greg Keller | Associated Press, July 13, 2013
BRETIGNY-SUR-ORGE, France — A train carrying hundreds of passengers derailed and crashed into a station outside Paris on Friday on one of the busiest days of the year for vacation getaways. At least six people were killed and dozens were injured, officials said.
They won't be doing any more chugging (blog editor frowns).
The crash was the deadliest in France in several years. French President Francois Hollande rushed to the scene at the Bretigny-sur-Orge station, 12 miles south of Paris. The Interior Ministry said 192 people were either injured or being treated for shock; nine were in critical condition.
Four of the seven train cars slid toward the station, crushing part of the metallic roof over the platform. Images on French television and on Twitter showed gnarled metal and shards on the platform, and debris from the crash clogging the stairwell leading beneath the platform.
Some 300 firefighters, 20 medical teams, and eight helicopters were deployed to get survivors out of the metal wreckage, according to the Interior Ministry.
The accident came as France is preparing to celebrate its most important national holiday, Bastille Day, on Sunday, and as masses of vacationers are heading out of Paris and other big cities to see family or for summer vacation.
Hollande praised ‘‘the mobilization of the emergency services,’’ and reached out in ‘‘solidarity with the victims’ families.’’ He said an inquiry has been launched to determine the cause of the accident.
‘‘The inquiries will be public so that there is absolutely no doubt on what happened,’’ he added.
Witnesses reported that the train was not moving at an excessive speed, deepening the mystery of what happened....
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NEXT DAY UPDATES:
"The minister of transport, Frédéric Cuvillier, said there was no indication that a lack of investment in maintaining the system’s infrastructure was at fault. But he said France’s regional rail lines were out of date, since the SNCF had focused so much attention on its high-speed TGV lines, one of France’s prides, adding, “The situation is severe, with the deterioration in recent years of traditional lines because of a lack of resources.”
But they have enough money to invade and occupy Mali.
Commuter rail bidder is linked to French crash
I suppose it's better than flying.
"Third girl injured in Asiana jet crash dies; Officials confirm other victim was hit by fire truck" by Martha Mendoza and Terry Collins | Associated Press, July 13, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO — A girl who was aboard the Asiana Airlines flight that crash-landed died Friday, the same day that authorities confirmed that one of the two Chinese teenagers killed in the disaster was hit by a firetruck.
The disclosure about the teen raised the possibility that she could have survived the crash only to die in its chaotic aftermath.
No one knows yet whether the two teens lived through the initial impact at the San Francisco airport.
But police and fire officials confirmed Friday that Ye Meng Yuan, 16, was hit by a firetruck racing to extinguish the blazing Boeing 777.
Her close friend Wang Linjia, also 16, was among a group of passengers who did not get immediate medical help. Rescuers did not spot her until 14 minutes after the crash.
The third girl died Friday morning. San Francisco General Hospital said she had been in critical condition since arriving Saturday after the accident.
Officials did not identify the girl at the request of her parents. Her age was also withheld.
‘‘The firetruck did go over the victim [Meng Yuan] at least one time. Now the other question is, what was the cause of death?’’ police spokesman Albie Esparza said. ‘‘That’s what we are trying to determine right now.’’
San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said the results of his initial inquiry into the deaths would probably be released next week. He would not comment on the police investigation.
Moments after the July 6 crash, while rescuers tried to help passengers near the burning fuselage, Wang Linjia and other victims lay in the rubble almost 2,000 feet away. A group of survivors called 911 and tried to help them.
Members of the group — martial arts athletes and their families returning from a competition in South Korea — said that after escaping the plane, they sat with at least four victims who appeared to be seriously hurt. They believe one of them was one of the girls who died.
Cindy Stone, who was in that group, was recorded by California Highway Patrol dispatchers calling in for help: ‘‘There are no ambulances here. We’ve been on the ground 20 minutes. There are people lying on the tarmac with critical injuries, head injuries. We’re almost losing a woman here. We’re trying to keep her alive.’’
Where has all that homeland security and preparedness money in the forms of drills and other things gone? I mean, really?
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NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"The victims were close friends and top students, looking forward to spending a few weeks at a Christian summer camp in California, where they planned to practice English and boosting their chances of attending a US college."
Also see: Crash puts focus on what happens in cockpit
This is tragic, but it's getting day after day coverage when more people died in the Alaska plane crash -- as well as others unmentioned over the course of the last few days?
Related: Boeing stock falls after fire on plane
They say it isn't the lithium batteries this time, but would you get on one of their flights?
