Thinking of our Canadian friends.

[Kiwifan]

Just seen this on my coffee break, not good. :cry:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/8888580/Runaway-train-explodes-in-Canadian-town

[Gnam]

Oh man... :(


A driverless freight train carrying tankers of crude oil has derailed at high speed and exploded into a giant fireball in the middle of a small Canadian town, destroying dozens of buildings and killing at least one person.

Sounds like the movie 'Unstoppable' with Denzel Washington come to life.

[Gnam]

The photos of downtown show total devastation. :(


The unmanned, Rail World-owned Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway train broke loose early Saturday and hurtled downhill through the darkness nearly seven miles (11 kilometers) before jumping the tracks at 63 mph (101 kph) in Lac-Megantic, near the Maine border, investigators said. All but one of the 73 cars were carrying oil. At least five exploded.

Rail dispatchers had no chance to warn anyone during the runaway train's 18-minute journey because they didn't know it was happening, Transportation Safety Board officials said.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Rail-chief-blames-engineer-in-deadly-Quebec-crash-4656286.php

[Andrew Longman]

FWIW I was in Calgary earlier this year working with petrochemical types. They joked that the Keystone Pipeline didn't really matter because if the US didn't build it they would just do what they are already doing: shipping crude by rail... Which isn't nearly as safe as pipelines. YMMV