Quote from: "Odinson"He is a manager. Press conferences like these are totally useless.



We are being taught that the bossman always has the answers and there is no I don´t know.

Quote from: "Odinson"The man did not know shit.

QuoteThe runaway Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway train that plowed through a small Quebec town killing 50 people on July 6 had one engineer assigned to it.



The American union of railway workers representing most of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway workers thinks the practice is dangerous, and has fought that work condition unsuccessfully since it began several years ago, its representatives say.



"We have always been and continue to be opposed to one-man trains," said Mike Twombly, vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, on Monday. "We have opposed it and tried to negotiate it out [of union contracts] but Mr. Burkhardt was equally vehement."



Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway has a long history of accidents in Canada, according to the Canadian Transportation Safety Board, which shows 129 accidents, including 77 derailments — some of them minor — since 2003. It is one of only two rail companies in Canada, both of them small, that is allowed to operate trains manned by a single engineer, Canadian authorities told Reuters.



On the American side of the border, when Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway formed in 2003, the company's formation eliminated the union contract held by the century-old Bangor and Aroostook Railroad when that company was purchased by rail conglomerate Rail World Inc. and renamed, Twombly said. That contract mandated two-man crews.



In 2005, the company held a demonstration of the remote-control system by which one engineer could control an automated locomotive for the coupling and decoupling of cars. By 2010, the system was being installed company-wide.



Union workers believe the system is unsafe because it leaves trains often carrying volatile materials in the hands of one person who could suffer a medical problem or encounter other issues that could cause problems, Twombly said.



http://bangordailynews.com/2013/07/17/news/penobscot/railroad-union-negotiating-with-montreal-maine-and-atlantic-says-one-man-train-crews-unsafe/">//http://bangordailynews.com/2013/07/17/news/penobscot/railroad-union-negotiating-with-montreal-maine-and-atlantic-says-one-man-train-crews-unsafe/

Quote from: "seoulbro"EU lacks imagination with the same tired pathetic insults. It almost makes me wonder if he and Green_Hornet are the same person.



Whatever, his article did not explain what exactly caused the runaway train.

QuoteMONTREAL - Nineteen Canadian Pacific trains failed internal compliance tests in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan, QMI Agency has learned.

The Calgary-based rail giant admitted to the failures in a memorandum dated Tuesday.



The tests were conducted after another company's crude-oil train derailed and exploded in Lac-Megantic, QC, on July 6, killing 47 people.



In all, CP carried out 322 tests on 70 trains this month in Brooks, AB, Mactier, ON, as well as three communities in Saskatchewan: Maple Creek, Sutherland and Swift Current.



The CP memo refers to a 5.9% failure rate. One of the failures was hand brakes that didn't meet company standards.CP announced last week that it will impose tougher rules on setting the brakes that hold a stationary train in place.



Freight train safety has been a major concern in Canada and the US since a runaway train crashed and exploded in Lac-Megantic, incinerating a large section of downtown.



The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has said there weren't enough brakes applied on the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway train when it was parked 12 km away in the town of Nantes.

CP's internal memorandum says some of its trains fell short on braking checks as well as tests that assessed radio communication between crews.



The memorandum was sent to CP engineers, mechanics and switching co-ordinators.



CP spokeswoman Breanne Feigel told QMI Agency that internal checks are routine.



"We do checks every day," she said. "The company does even more than what Transport Canada regulations require."



Staff that don't respect safety rules are docked points, which Feigel says is a common industry practice.

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/07/20130726-115405.html">http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/ca ... 15405.html">http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/07/20130726-115405.html

QuoteA locomotive and seven tank cars carrying oil derailed in Lloydminster, which straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, on Friday afternoon.



The derailment occurred around 5 p.m. while the train was moving cars out of the railyard.



The tank cars were carrying oil but none of it spilled. Some diesel fuel was released from the locomotive but contained by the fire department.



CP Rail spokesman Ed Greenberg says the cars are on the side of the track.



"We have crews on scene going through our strict protocols and procedures when it comes to ensuring that the site is safe and secure," he said.



"A full investigation is being conducted to determine what took place — not just the cause, but the circumstances that led to the cause."



No one was hurt and the area didn't have to be evacuated.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2013/07/27/edmonton-train-derailment-lloydminster.html">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... nster.html">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2013/07/27/edmonton-train-derailment-lloydminster.html

QuoteEmergency crews are cleaning up following a train derailment near the Alberta-Montana border.



A total of 19 cars left the tracks in a rural area, roughly five kilometres north of Coutts, AB.



According to Canadian Pacific, there were no injuries sustained in the derailment, which happened late Friday afternoon.



The train was carrying coal, however CP has no environmental concerns, as all of the cars remained upright.



"We take the necessary steps for proper environmental remediation once the initial cleanup stage has been completed," said Ed Greenberg, a CP spokesperson.



Greenberg told Global News that as of Saturday evening, only four cars had yet to be back on the rail line.



Once the track is repaired and inspected, the line is expected to re-open on Sunday morning.



Cause of the derailment is still under investigation.

http://www.zimbio.com/Railroad+Worker+News/articles/xAlId-ZIgku/Investigation+continues+train+derailment+near">http://www.zimbio.com/Railroad+Worker+N ... lment+near">http://www.zimbio.com/Railroad+Worker+News/articles/xAlId-ZIgku/Investigation+continues+train+derailment+near

QuoteLac-Megantic Report Released By Transportation Safety Board



Many factors contributed to the Lac-Megantic train derailment in 2013, including lax safety measures at the company that owned the runaway train, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Tuesday.



The agency targeted Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway and Transport Canada in its final report.



"We now know why the situation developed over time," TSB chair Wendy Tadros told a news conference in Lac-Megantic. "A weak safety culture at MMA, poor training of employees, tanker cars that didn't offer enough protection.



"And then Transport Canada didn't audit railways often enough and thoroughly enough to know how those companies were really managing, or not managing, risk."



"Accidents never come down to a single individual, a single action or a single factor," she said. "You have to look at the whole context. In our investigation, we found 18 factors played a role in this accident."



One of them was the fact that about one-third of the derailed tanker cars had large breaches which rapidly released vast quantities of highly volatile petroleum crude oil.



Brake issues also played a role in the accident.



"The seven hand brakes that were applied to secure the train were insufficient to hold the train without the additional braking force provided by the locomotive's independent brakes," the TSB said.



The federal agency is making two additional recommendations: that additional "physical defences" be set up to prevent runaway trains, and that there be more thorough audits to ensure railways are effectively managing safety.



Last January, the TSB called on Ottawa to take urgent action to pull outdated and unsafe rail cars from Canada's tracks, as well as reassess the safety of all potential routes used to transport dangerous goods.



Transport Canada issued directives on July 23, 2013, that at least two crew members must work on trains that carry dangerous goods and that no locomotive attached to one or more tank cars carrying dangerous goods can be left unattended on a main track.



The TSB said last year as its investigation progressed that the crude oil carried by the train was as volatile as gasoline but had been labelled as a less-dangerous product similar to diesel or bunker crude.



http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/08/19/lac-megantic-tsb_n_5690253.html">//http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/08/19/lac-megantic-tsb_n_5690253.html

QuoteThe seven hand brakes that were applied to secure the train were insufficient to hold the train without the additional braking force provided by the locomotive's independent brakes," the TSB said.