The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) employee in charge of safety and training at the railroad testified that a minimum of nine handbrakes should have been used on the train that destroyed the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, in 2013. Michael Horan testified that only seven handbrakes had been set.
What’s more, in a distinct disregard for safety, Horan’s testimony revealed that he was never trained in how to teach safety standards to employees. He also testified that MMA had instituted one-man crews shortly before the Lac-Megantic tragedy.
Click here to read more about Horan’s testimony from CBCNews.

The following conversations took place on July 5 and 6, 2013, on the night of the devastating derailment in Lac-Mégantic. They were between railway engineer Tom Harding and company offices in Farnham, Que., and Maine.

The transcripts, which are based on audio recordings of MM&A’s rail-traffic control communications, provide new insight into Mr. Harding’s actions before the derailment, as well as the uncertainty and panic that took hold in the chaotic hours after the crash.

Read the complete story at The Globe and Mail.

MONTREAL – Montreal, Maine and Atlantic and three of its employees are to be charged Tuesday with criminal negligence causing death in connection with the Lac-Mégantic derailment.

Forty-seven people died after a runaway MMA crude oil train derailed and exploded there on July 6, 2013. Millions of litres of crude oil spilled in the accident.

Read the complete story at The Montreal Gazette.

Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd. (MM&A) had been the subject of repeated infraction notices for violations of the rules surrounding the securing of trains for years before the tragedy in Lac-Mégantic, but Transport Canada never imposed any sanctions on the company.

Those violations, documented in Transport Canada files obtained by Radio-Canada’s investigative program, Enquête, were noted several times in 2004 and 2009, and again in 2011 and 2012.

Read the complete story at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

MONTREAL – A former colleague of the train conductor involved in the Lac-Megantic, Que., derailment has set up a legal defence fund for the man.
Randy MacDonald, 55, said he “wanted to help out” Tom Harding, the man at the centre of the explosions that killed 47 people in early July.
Read the complete story at the Sault Star.

The trustee for Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd. wants U.S. taxpayers to pay the bankrupt railroad’s legal fees, according to a motion filed Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The motion asks the court to carve out $5 million of the anticipated proceeds from selling the railroad’s assets and subtract it from the amount owed to the Federal Railroad Administration.

Read the complete story at the Portland Press Herald.

 

PORTLAND, Maine – A bankrupt railroad whose runaway train sparked a fire and explosion that killed 47 people in Quebec is seeking financing to use two-person train crews in the U.S., a company trustee said.

The move to beef up the crews comes after criticism of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway’s decision to keep one-person crews in the U.S., said Portland lawyer Robert J. Keach.

Read the complete story at the Boston Globe.

PORTLAND, Maine – The bankrupt railroad whose runaway train sparked a fire and explosion that killed 47 people in Quebec could be sold by year’s end, the company’s trustee said Thursday.

Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway has made no secret that its sale will be necessary to repay creditors and victims following the July 6 disaster Lac-Megantic, Quebec. And railroad trustee Robert Keach said he’s already been approached by “several” potential buyers.

Read the complete story at The Houston Chronicle.

 

The nation’s top railroad administrator has told the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway that he is “shocked” that the company has not adopted a policy of using two-person crews on its trains in the United States.

In a letter to the Maine-based company, Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Joseph Szabo said he expects the railroad to stop manning trains with one-person crews.

Read the complete story at The Portland Press Herald.