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Lac-Mégantic Rail Disaster
- 1. PRESENTATION ON LAC-MÉGANTIC RAIL DISASTER By- AishwaryaVijay, 6th Sem, EIC Engg.
- 2. INTRODUCTION • The Lac-Méganticrail disaster occurred in the town of Lac-Mégantic, located in the Eastern Townships of the Canadian province of Quebec on July 6, 2013. • An unattended 74-car freight train carrying crude oil rolled downhill and derailed, resulting in the fire and explosion of multiple tank cars.
- 3. BACKGROUND The route •The railway line passing through Lac-Mégantic is owned by the United States-based Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railways (MMA). The train • The freight train was designated "MMA 2" and was 4,701 ft (1,433 m) long and weighed 10,287 tones (10,125 long tons; 11,339 short tons). • The train was composed of five head-end locomotives, one remote- control "VB" car (a former caboose) used to house the Locotrol equipment necessary for MMA’s single engineer train operation, one loaded box car used as a buffer car followed by 72 non-pressure dangerous goods DOT-111 tank cars loaded with petroleum crude oil (Class 3, UN 1267). Each tank car was filled with 113,000 liters (25,000 imp gal; 30,000 US gal) of crude oil.
- 4. • The oil,shipped by World Fuel Services subsidiary Dakota Plains Holdings Incorporated from New Town, North Dakota, originated from the Bakken formation. The destination was the Irving Oil Refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick. • Shipment of the oil was contracted to Canadian Pacific Railway, which transported the oil on CPR tracks from North Dakota to the CPR yard in Côte-Saint-Luc, a suburb of Montreal. CPR sub-contracted MMA to transport the oil from the CPR yard in Côte Saint-Luc to the MMA yard in Brownville Junction. CPR also sub-contracted New Brunswick Southern Railway to transport the oil from the MMA yard in Brownville Junction to the final destination at the refinery in Saint John.
- 5. REASONS OF DERAILMENT ANDEXPLOSION • With all the locomotives shut down, the air compressor no longer supplied air to the air brake system. As air leaked from the brake system, the main air reservoirs were slowly depleted, gradually reducing the effectiveness of the locomotive air brakes. At 00:56, the air pressure had dropped to a point at which the combination of locomotive air brakes and hand brakes could no longer hold the train, and it began to roll downhill toward Lac-Mégantic, just over seven miles away, without the locomotive lights on. • The track was not equipped with signals to alert the rail traffic signal the presence of a runaway train. The train entered the town of Lac- Mégantic at high speed. The train derailed in downtown Lac-Mégantic at 01:14.
- 6. • The locomotivesand the VB car were found intact, separated from the rest of the train approximately 800 meters (0.50 mi) east of the derailment site. The equipment that derailed included 63 of the 72 tank cars as well as the buffer car. Nine tank cars at the rear of the train remained on the track and were pulled away from the derailment site and did not explode. Almost all of the derailed tank cars were damaged, many having large breaches. About six million liters of petroleum crude oil was quickly released; the fire began almost immediately. • The unmanned train derailed in an area near the grade grossing where the rail line crosses Frontanec Street, the town's main street. This location is approximately 600 meters (2,000 ft) northwest of the railway bridge over the Chaudier river and is also immediately north of the town's central business district.
- 7. • Around 150firefighters were deployed to the scene, described as looking like a "war zone". Some were called in from as far away as the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec and as many as eight trucks carrying 30 firefighters were dispatched from Franklin County, Maine, United States (Chesterville, Eustis, Farmington, New Vineyard, Phillips, Rangeley and Strong). The fire was contained and prevented from spreading further in the early afternoon. • The local hospital went to Code Orange, anticipating a high number of casualties and requesting reinforcements from other medical centers, but they received no seriously injured patients. RESPONSE TO DISASTER
- 8. • After 20hours, the centre of the fire was still inaccessible to firefighters and five pools of fuel were still burning. Special fire-retardant foam was brought from an Ultramar refinery in Lévis, aiding progress by firefighters on the Saturday night. Five of the unexploded cars were doused with high-pressure water to prevent further explosions, and two were still burning and at risk of exploding 36 hours later. The train's event recorder was recovered at around 15:00 the next day and the fire was finally extinguished in the evening, after burning for nearly two days. • A red zone was declared where evacuees could not return to their homes because of the ongoing investigation.
- 9. CASUALITIES AND DAMAGE •Forty-two bodies were found and transported to Montreal to be identified. 39 of those were identified by investigators by late August 2013 and the 40th in April 2014. The bodies of five presumed victims were never found. It is possible that some of the missing people were vaporized by the explosions. • At least 30 buildings were destroyed in the centre of town, including the town's library, a historic former bank, and other businesses and houses. 115 businesses were destroyed, displaced, or rendered inaccessible. • The municipal water supply for Lac-Mégantic was shut down on the evening of the explosion because of a leak inside the blast zone, requiring trucks carrying drinking water, though the leak was repaired overnight but a precautionary boil-water advisory was issued.
- 10. Lac-Mégantic rail disaster IMAGEREFLECTING AFTERMATH
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