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First it was imploding peripheral bond markets, now Europe is closing off the weak with even worse news, following reports of a burning Ethiopian Airlines plane in Heathrow as well as news of a commuter train crash in Paris with numerous trapped and 8 dead according to Parisien. Hopefully this is not an indication of what happens to global infrastructure when corporations ignore their maintenance CapEx for 4 years in a row. First this: 'Many Casualties' In Paris Train Derailment http://t.co/ix35wGZu2T — Sky News (@SkyNews) July 12, 2013 Reports of Ethiopian plane on fire at Heathrow Airport, no reports of...

Five locomotives, the front end of a death train, sit almost completely hidden on a shabby stretch of track nestled within lakeside bush. A person could pull the stakes out of the rotting and splintered ties with one good yank. Yet this corroded rail line held fast against the wheels of a runaway train’s forward section — the stubby head of the beast — with no engineer at the switch, no human manipulating any of the route. How this severed section of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railroad freight train got to this location remains a matter of speculation. Officials...

The deadly explosion of a derailed train carrying crude oil in the remote town of Lac-Megantic, Que., is likely to spark fresh arguments in the rancorous debate over the safety of the Keystone XL pipeline. "TransCanada and the other pipeline proponents are going to try to use this (accident) to boost their case, but it's a real double-edged sword for them," Keith Steward, the climate and energy co-ordinator at Greenpeace in Toronto, said. "Pipelines and rail both have safety issues and both can be a hell of a lot safer than they are today." The recent boom in oil production...

The president and CEO of the railway's parent company says an employee failed to properly set the brakes of the train that crashed into a town in Quebec, killing at least 15 people while another 45 remain missing. Edward Burkhardt made the comments during a visit Wednesday to the town that was devastated by the runaway oil train four days ago. 'It was questionable whether hand brakes were put I place at this time,' Burkhardt said. 'I don't think any employees removed brakes. They failed to set the brakes.' 'I think he did something wrong ...We think he applied some...

As the smoke clears (literally) in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, after a runaway train packed with crude oil tankers crashed July 6, the oil industry is coming to terms with a business that has perhaps grown too far too fast. The Lac-Megantic accident is shining an unwelcome spotlight on the lack of regulatory oversight on oil by rail in both the US and Canada. The fact that the rail cars (belonging to the Maine, Montreal & Atlantic rail company) that crashed and exploded were considered unfit to carry hazardous materials sharpens that focus. Getting landlocked crude out of newer fields in North...

Authorities were never made aware that a runaway train was on its way to levelling part of a small Quebec town, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Tuesday. Rail dispatchers had no chance to intervene during the fateful 18-minute journey because they didn’t know it was happening, TSB investigator Donald Ross told a news conference. “There were no signals nor track circuits, so the rail-traffic controller had no — and would have had no — indication that there had been a runaway train,” he said. Such systems are in place on busier rail lines including the one linking Montreal...

A n oil-laden train not unlike those rolling down American tracks derailed and exploded Saturday in a Canadian town, proving why pipelines are safer and environmentalist opposition to a pipeline from Canada is misguided. At least 13 people were reported dead and 37 missing in the charred Quebec town of Lac-Megantic, 130 miles east of Montreal, after the accident created an inferno of burning crude. Some may never be found, likely vaporized by the sheer intensity of the blaze that burned for 36 hours. Canada's oil boom, due largely to development of the oil sands in its western province of...

Police open investigation into deadly derailment in Quebec as dozens of bodies remain buried in ruins. At least 15 people were killed and many more went missing after an oil train derailed at a speed of 63mph [EPA] Canadian police have opened a criminal probe into a fatal oil train blast in the town of Lac-Megantic, following claims and counter claims by operators and firefighters over the causes.Police also raised the death toll from Saturday's blast to 15 from 13 on Tuesday and said the total number of dead and missing people was 50.Quebec police inspector Michel Forget told a...

CNN) -- The chairman of the company whose driverless train barreled into the small Quebec town of Lac-Megantic and unleashed a deadly inferno told a Montreal newspaper he believes it had been tampered with. "We have evidence of this," Ed Burkhardt said in an interview published by the Montreal Gazette. "But this is an item that needs further investigation. We need to talk to some people we believe to have knowledge of this." The company did not immediately return phone calls from CNN about the report. Burkhardt is the chief executive officer and president of Rail World, the parent company...

A deadly crude oil train disaster in Canada has brought renewed scrutiny to the growing use of rail to carry oil – including hundreds of thousands of barrels in Texas – and prompted worries that the higher volume will mean more accidents. Though rail proponents say moving crude by train is safe, federal regulators and others say that pipelines are safer, a stance that has played a role in the debate over the planned Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Texas coast. And regardless of the relative safety of the two transportation modes, the mere fact that more crude...

American greenies imagine they can save the planet by stopping construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, but in the real world they will expose Mother Gaia (and human beings) to greater harm by forcing more oil to be transported by rail. Pipelines are far safer than rail transportation, as we are reminded by the horror that engulfed much of the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec in flames. Thirteen people are known dead, but as many as 50 are missing, while charred bodies still are being pulled from the ruins. This reality should haunt the nightmares of greenies, people generally given to...

...The locomotive caught fire, so firefighters shut off the engine to stop the flames from spreading. That slowly disengaged the air brakes, and the driverless train carrying 72 cars of crude oil rolled downhill into the scenic lakeside town of Lac-Megantic, derailing, exploding and leveling the town center. At least 13 people were killed and some 37 are still missing, according to Canadian police... He secured the train at 11:25 p.m. on Friday, setting the air brakes and hand brakes, according to MMA. Burkhardt said the engineer set the brakes on all five locomotives at the front of the train,...

LAC-MÉGANTIC, Que. — As the confirmed death toll climbed here Monday, the head of the company whose runaway train was at the centre of this tragedy says he is certain a locomotive was tampered with. “We have evidence of this,” said Ed Burkhardt, chairman of The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway. “But this is an item that needs further investigation. We need to talk to some people we believe have knowledge of this.” ... The ensuing crash and explosions destroyed a stunning swath of the downtown and are now being blamed for 13 confirmed deaths. With the number of people...

LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec (AP) — Hazardous conditions hindered firefighters' attempts Monday to search for some 40 people still missing after a runaway oil tanker train exploded over the weekend, killing at least five people, officials said. Meanwhile, crews worked to contain oil spilling in the Claudiere River which feeds into the St. Lawrence.

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...

A train carrying crude oil derailed in the town of Lac-Megantic, Que., early Saturday morning, sending giant flames into the air and prompting a mass evacuation. At least 1,000 residents have been evacuated from their homes in Lac-Megantic, which is located about 250 kilometres east of Montreal. A number of the train’s 73 cars exploded, causing a fire that spread to several of buildings in the community.

Huge explosion rocks Rosedale, Maryland after a train apparently crashed into a 18 wheeler that was blocking the tracks. View the full post at Massive Explosion rocks Baltimore after a Train Derailment

French Soldier Stabbed In Neck Near Paris Adam TaylorMay 25, 2013, 1:43 PM A soldier patrolling as part of France's Vigipirate anti-terrorist surveillance plan was stabbed in the neck this afternoon, Reuters reports. A police source told the news agency that the soldier would survive the attack. He is 23 years old, according to CNN. Le Parisien is reporting that the attacker was of Northern African appearance, aged around 30 years old and wearing a jilbab, a type of Islamic garment. The man quickly fled the scene and has not been caught. The attack happened in La Défense, to the...

The National Transportation Safety Board said it had dispatched a team to investigate the train crash. Two freight trains collided at a rail intersection in rural southeastern Missouri on Saturday, triggering the collapse of a highway overpass when at least a dozen rail cars derailed and struck a support pillar, authorities said. None of the seven people hurt in the fiery crash – two train workers and five people who had been in the two cars on the overpass – suffered life-threatening injuries, Scott County sheriff Rick Walter said in a statement. "One train T-boned the other one and...

Fox is reporting a train has derailed in Connecticut. 20 to 25 injured. Two trains collided.