Hope fading for 40 missing in Quebec train disaster, officials confirm five dead

National Post ^ | July 7, 2013 | Graeme Hamilton

[Squawk 8888]

LAC-MEGANTIC, Que. — About 40 people are considered missing after the spectacular blaze and explosions that razed much of Lac-Megantic, increasing the likelihood that the number of fatalities could soar from the current official death toll of five.

“I can tell you that we have met a lot of people….and what I can tell you is that about 40 people are considered missing,” Quebec provincial police Lt. Michel Brunet told a news conference.

“We have to be careful with that number because it could go up or down.”

It is the first time police have gone public with an estimate since the derailment of a train carrying crude oil triggered Saturday morning’s fatal events.

Brunet said two bodies were found overnight and another two on Sunday morning. The first body was discovered Saturday.

Police say a higher death toll is inevitable.

About 30 buildings were destroyed after tanker cars laden with oil caught fire shortly after 1 a.m. One of them is the Musi-Cafe bar where dozens of people were enjoying themselves in the wee hours of a glorious summer night. Most of the missing are believed to have been at the bar.

[Paladin2]

Economics would seem to dictate that you don’t park it. Switch out the crew in a few minutes and be on your way.

[brityank]

UPDATE from 'National Post':

Fire chief angrily denies suggestion his crew played role in deadly Lac-Mégantic train disaster ^

NANTES, Que. – The fire chief of this town just outside Lac-Mégantic has angrily denied the suggestion from the owners of the freight train that exploded Saturday that his firefighters played a part in the disaster.

In an interview Monday, Patrick Lambert told the National Post that his men extinguished an engine fire aboard the oil-laden train late Friday night and left the train in the care of two representatives of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway.

Mr. Lambert said he had two fire engines and 12 firefighters at the scene within 17 minutes. They shut down the lead engine to battle the fire, as dictated by the fire department’s and the railway’s protocols, he said.

“That’s the only way we could put the fire out,” he said.

The department had advised MMA’s supervisor in Farnham, Que., of the fire, and two employees who had been in Lac-Mégantic arrived as the blaze was being battled.

Mr. Lambert said it was the fourth such fire on an MMA locomotive in the past eight years. In this case the cause was “a mechanical rupture, either a fuel line or an oil line ruptured,” he said.

It did not take long to extinguish the fire, and at 12:15 a.m. Saturday, the firefighters left.

Lots more at the site.

I also found some telling info about the brakes on these trains - you HAVE to have a running engine to maintain the air-brakes. Truck air-brakes are spring driven - they lock ON without any air pressure. Train brakes have no springs, and must be secured by hand without an engine.

North American Freight Train Brakes

Each freight car has an air tank (reservoir) on it. This reservoir (often called the auxiliary reservoir or brake reservoir) is charged with compressed air from the locomotive's air compressor thru the train line brake pipe. You can see the air hoses between the cars and they go Kapowssssh when you uncouple them. After the initial charging of the reservoirs, the brakes can be set (applied) by REDUCING the pressure in the brake pipe. Compressed air from each car's reservoir pushes on the brake cylinder piston to apply the brakes on the car. In the rare event that you have no air in the reservoir then you've got no brakes and you've got a run away.

This is from GTAFF in NP's Comment section:

Tractor trailers have spring brakes. No air-the brakes are locked. There are no spring brakes on trains. Once the train's main reservoir is empty the brakes release. All the deadman does is release air from the reservoir to the brake lines. No air; no brakes. A train parked with the engine running gets constant air replenishment from the engine's compressor. Once the engine is shut down the whole air system starts to bleed off. The rules (Uniform Code Of Operating Rules) require handbrakes if equipment is left unattended. But diesels don't often shut down, or catch fire, and crews get complacent. They forget that these rules were written in blood over more than a century of experience. In this case the price will be very high.

Prayers up for the dead and missing, and God bless and succor their relatives and friends.

[Paladin2]

Thnx.

"The MMA employees “inspected the train with us,” he said. “MMA told the leading fire officer that everything was okay, the fire was out, everything was secure, you guys can leave.”

The locomotive’s power remained shut off, and the fire officer advised the railway employees that it could not be moved until the ruptured line was repaired.

“When we left, there was a police officer and two employees of MMA [at the scene],” he said."

Seems like the MMA should'a cut out the damaged unit (especially if it was the lead unit) and set it out. Put on the manual brakes on more cars than were already set. And sent out a repair crew or had the morning engineer tack the dead unit on the back.

So, slightly more info is needed, but it does sound like MMA's fault. Completely.

[John S Mosby]

The anti-fracking crowd. The oil came from ND Brakken oil shale field— it was from fracking. If this is green terrorism they weren’t concerned about the “environmental” impact on a town like they seem to be about the ground water.
But then, back in the day (and still) these nasty people put spikes into trees to injure/kill loggers. So the forest can be “preserved” for... no one.

[Smokin' Joe]

If someone stripped those idiots of everything in their lives that comes from oil and gas, they'd likely be running barefoot and naked through the snow, eagerly increasing their 'carbon footprint' by burning their beloved trees to keep warm.

It isn't the fault of the drillers, nor the frac crews, nor the people who decided to ship light sweet crude by rail to refineries which would otherwise be importing their oil by tanker or barge, possibly from countries who are pals with AlQaida, and getting that oil a little cheaper than shipping it in from elsewhere.

Someone, something failed and wrecked the train. If people had an inkling of the hazardous substances which travel by rail, usually safely, most of them would have an underwear wrecking moment. Overall, safety records are pretty darned good, considering the tonnage carried and the miles traveled.

Those who blame the absence of the Keystone pipeline don't realize that the pipeline won't go East, it goes from north to south. The biggest reason trains are being used is that oil can get to refineries which might not have access to those feedstocks otherwise, and would be importing Arab Light or Brent instead of using North American (quite possibly Bakken/Three Forks) crude.

I can only offer my prayers for those who have lost their relatives, lives, or property,

[Smokin' Joe]

There are two ways to shut down the fifth unit: There’s an emergency lever on the outside of the locomotive that anyone wandering by could access. Or, there are a number of levers and buttons inside the unlocked cabin. Both means were used, said Burkhardt."

At best someone screwed up, at worst, mass murder.

Enviroterrorists?

[Smokin' Joe]

Folks need to think long and hard about moving oil and gas by rail through populated areas.

I suppose you could always haul it by truck (as most of the crude loaded on rail cars is, before it is loaded on the train).

[Paladin2]

Note remote control "caboose".

[brityank]

This skyshot shows the layout of the tank cars just after most of the fires are out. The "remote control caboose" is among the five cars at the upper left. There are three tracks running out of the pile-up, and one coming in at the bottom, indicating the switch point contributing to the derailment.

What I haven't seen yet is an over view or skyshot showing where the engines and any attached cars ended up, and why. The story is that they stopped a couple of clicks prior to the entry to the town.

[Paladin2]

"The story is that they stopped a couple of clicks prior to the entry to the town. "

I think that is clearly wrong. My guess is that the locos (incl the "caboose" ) and likely some tank cars made it through the switches, brakes to a stop on an up-rise and are south and east of town.

There's on the order of 50 tank cars in the pileup. Nine to 13 that were pulled off the rear of the train and taken back west yesterday. That would leave ~10 tank cars still with the locos.

The press has really mangled the story of where all the parts of the train ended up.

[brityank]

The press has really mangled the story of where all the parts of the train ended up.

On that I agree fully! Along with all the folks who mistakenly thing train air-brakes are the same as truck air-brakes, discounting the lack of springs and assuming the air cylinders don't leak. I saw they have the "black boxes" for the units, so hopefully they will give a better indication of this debacle - assuming they function after the loco power goes out.

Many thanks for the links and information.       :^)

[Paladin2]

Here ya go (it seems that (finally) physics rulz among "journalists".):

"1:14 a.m. -- Train derails in Lac-Megantic. The locomotive detaches and continues through town for about a kilometre. (Well, it's any number of locos plus the remote control caboose. ) (pics show NO tank cars on the stern of the last loco.) Residents report a series of explosions, with fireballs shooting into the sky and a wall of flames pounding the town. The downtown core is eviscerated, with a bustling bar, the library, and a cherished waterside park among the dozens of structures destroyed."