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1.1 The Train

The Lac-Mégantic rail disaster occurred on July 13, 2013 in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec when a train carrying crude oil rolled down a grade and derailed in the town, causing massive fires and explosions that killed 47 people. The train was left unattended on a descending grade with insufficient hand brakes applied. After firefighters responded to a fire on one locomotive and shut it down, the train began rolling and picked up speed, derailing in the town. Poor maintenance and non-compliance with safety procedures contributed to the disaster.

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Seagaran Valaiyabathi
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29 views

1.1 The Train

The Lac-Mégantic rail disaster occurred on July 13, 2013 in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec when a train carrying crude oil rolled down a grade and derailed in the town, causing massive fires and explosions that killed 47 people. The train was left unattended on a descending grade with insufficient hand brakes applied. After firefighters responded to a fire on one locomotive and shut it down, the train began rolling and picked up speed, derailing in the town. Poor maintenance and non-compliance with safety procedures contributed to the disaster.

Uploaded by

Seagaran Valaiyabathi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.

Introduction
The Lac-Mgantic rail disaster occurred on the 13th July 2013 at approximately 01:15
EDT (Eastern Daylight Timing) in the town of Lac-Mgantic in the eastern townships of
Canadian province of Quebec, when a 74-car freight train carrying 7.7 million liters of crude
oil rolled down a 1.2% grade from Nantes and derailed downtown causing fire and
explosions of several tank cars. 47 people were dead, most of the buildings in downtown of
Lac-Mgantic were destroyed as a result of the explosion. A blast radius of 0.6 miles was
report by initial newspaper. The death toll, 47, makes the Lac-Mgantic rail disaster as the 4th
most deadly train disaster in Canadian history.
1.1 The train
Eight months before the derailment, in October 2012, the lead locomotive, a GE
C30-7 5017 was sent to the MMA's repair shop following an engine failure. Due to
limited time and cost of repair was high; the standard repair procedure did not take place.
The engine was repaired with an epoxy based like material which was not strong and
durable. The train originated from New Town, North Dakota consisted of 1 buffer car
and 78 tank cars. On 30th June 2013, when the trained arrived at Harvey, North Dakota, 1
tank car was removed due to mechanical defect on the car received after the trains Class
1 air brake test and safety inspection. The cars operated through Minneapolis, Minnesota,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan and arrived in Canada
through Windsor, Ontario. The cars underwent a No.1 air brake test by a certified car
inspector on the 4th July 2013. The cars left Ontario containing of 2 locomotives and 120
cars, destined for Montreal. It underwent another routine safety and mechanical
inspection in Saint-Luc Yard on the 5th July 2013. Defects were identified on 5 tank cars
and were removed. On 5th July 2013, these cars were taken to Farnham, where they
received a brake continuity test and a mechanical inspection by Transport Canada.
Defects were corrected on 2 cars as they were minor. The 74-car freight train departed
from Farnham, carrying 7.7 million liters of crude oil was 1433 meters long; weighed
10,290 tonnes. The train consisted of the followings:
1.1.1. Lead locomotive MMA 5017, Genetic Electrical Company C30-7;
1.1.2. Special purpose caboose VB 1;
1.1.3. Locomotive MMA 5026, GE C30-7;
1.1.4. Locomotive CITX 3053, General Motors SD-40;
1.1.5. Locomotive MMA 5023, GE C30-7;
1.1.6. Locomotive CEFX 3166, GM SD-40
1.1.7. Buffer car CIBX 172032;
1.1.8. 72 tank cars
1.2 Train Brakes
1.2.1 Air Brakes
A train has 2 kinds of air brakes. Namely, automatic brakes and independent
brakes. Automatic brakes are used to stop or slow down the entire train. This is
controlled by brake pipes connected to each car and locomotive. Decrease in pressure
within these pipes causes air to flow into each cars control valve, which then injects
stored air into the brake cylinder, thus applying the brake shoes to the wheels. A
compressor supplies the air needed for braking system in both kinds which is present in
each locomotives. Compressor shuts off when a locomotive is shut off. Compressor does
not supply air to the system when it is shut off. The air is stored in the locomotives main
reservoir. Approximately 90 psi of air is supplied by the reservoir to the brake pipes
which runs along the length of the entire train connecting to each locomotive and each
car.
On the other hand, independent air brakes are present only on the locomotives.
They are activated by the injection of air directly into the brake cylinders, hence applying
the brake shoes to the wheels. When an independent brake action is required, the
locomotive engineer moves the independent brake handle, which in turn injects up to 75
psi of air pressure directly from the main reservoir into the brake cylinders of the
locomotive. This causes the brake shoes to apply to the wheels. To release the
independent brakes, the engineer then moves the independent brake handle to the release
position. This causes air to be released from the locomotives brake cylinders, and the
shoes are removed from the wheels. If air leak is present from various components,
amount of force applied by the independent brakes is reduced. Pressure in the cylinder
drops gradually thus resulting in brake failure. When the control valve of the air brake
senses a pressure drop in the brake pipe, each brake in the cars are designed to be
activated. Emergency brake application is the maximum application of the air brakes.
The pipe pressure is quickly reduced to zero, either from separation of the brake pipe or
operator initiated action. Following an emergency brake application, a trains entire air
system is depleted.

1.3 The accident


July 5th 2013, at approximately 10.50pm, a MMA train arrived at Nantes, Quebec
carrying 7.7 million liters of crude oil in 72 class 111 tank cars. The train originated from
New town, North Dakota, bound for Saint John, New Brunswick. The locomotive
engineer at Nantes, parked the train on the descending grade of the main track. The trip to
east was to be continued by a replacement engineer in the morning. The engineer applied
hand brakes on all 5 locomotives and 2 other cars and shut down all but leaving the lead
locomotive. According to railway rules, hand brake alone is capable of holding a train.
This is verified by a test usually. That night the locomotive air brakes were left on during
the test. The train was held by a mixture of hand brakes and air brakes. The engineer then
contacted the rail traffic controller in Farnham, Quebec to opine that the train was secure.
Subsequently, the engineer contacted the rail traffic controller in Bangor, Maine, who is
in charge of the crews in east of Lac-Mgantic. In the conversation, the engineer point
out that the lead locomotive had experienced mechanical complications during the course
of the trip, and that excessive black and white smoke was coming from its smoke stack.
The smoke was expected to settle down/improve. It was then later agreed to leave the
train as it was and to be dealt with the situation the next morning.
Shortly after the engineer left, the fire department of Nantes responded to a 911
call reporting a train is on fire. Fire fighters took the first action to cut the fuel supply to
stop the engine. In keeping with the railway commands the fire fighters moved the
electrical breakers in the side cab to off position. A track foreman was dispatched to the
scene but did not have prior locomotive operations experience. After advising the railway
traffic control in Quebec of the situation, the foreman and fire fighters left the scene. The
train then began to roll down a hill. As it proceed down the grade, the trained picked up
speed to approximately reaching 65mph. The train then derailed at the turn of the
Mgantic West turnout at about 1:15a.m. Approximately 6 million liters of crude oil of
instantly released and fire caught on it quickly and caused an explosion enough to kill 47
people.

2. Cause of the incident


One of the main cause of why this disaster took place is

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