155 replies to this topic

[CNJRoss]

CBC News Montreal, 10/12/17:
 

Lac-Mégantic trial hears 9 handbrakes should have been used to secure tanker train

 

MMA employee in charge of safety in Quebec testifies he had few resources and no training, just rule books

 

 

The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) railway employee in charge of safety and training in Quebec said after the Lac-Mégantic disaster, he told police a minimum of nine handbrakes should have been applied to the train parked at Nantes, Que., on July 5, 2013.

 

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Horan, who started working for MMA in 2003, told the court that although he was in charge of safety and training for all Quebec MMA employees, he never had an official job description, nor was he given any instruction on how to teach safety standards to  employees.

 

"So you were just given books filled with rules and expected to make do?" asked Thomas Walsh, Harding's lawyer.

 

"Yes,"  Horan replied.

 

More here.

[CNJRoss]

CBC News Montreal 10/18/17:
 

Few safety precautions for MMA's 1-person crews, Lac-Mégantic trial hears

 

'No rule covered' telling MMA controller how many handbrakes had been set on parked train, Michael Horan says

 

 

The former Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) employee in charge of training and safety in Quebec said only two rail companies were allowed to operate trains with one-man crews at the time of the Lac-Mégantic tragedy in 2013.

 

Michael Horan said he'd been told by Transport Canada that the other, Quebec North Shore and Labrador Rail (QNSL), did so under much stricter conditions.

 

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Earlier in his testimony, Horan had told the court one-man crews had been put in place shortly before the Lac-Mégantic train derailment and subsequent explosions and fires which killed 47 people.

 

Train engineer Thomas Harding, 56, railway traffic controller Richard Labrie, 59, and operations manager Jean Demaître, 53, are on trial at the Sherbrooke courthouse, each charged with 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death.

 

Under cross-examination by Guy Poupart, Labrie's lawyer, Horan told the court there were almost no changes at the railway, despite having reduced train crews from two or three employees to just one.

 

More here.

[Sloan]

 

 

Train conductor played significant role in Lac-Mégantic tragedy: Crown

 

Train conductor Thomas Harding played a significant role in the deaths of 47 people in the Lac-Megantic tragedy because he didn't sufficiently apply the brakes after parking the oil-laden convoy, the Crown argued Wednesday.

https://www.theglobe...rticle37478526/

Note photo caption is inconsistent with text by identifying Harding as "train driver.;" but text reads "conductor."

[CNJRoss]

CTV-News, 1/15/17:
 

Lac-Megantic jurors to deliberate for sixth day Tuesday

 

 

SHERBROOKE, Que. -- A Quebec judge told the jurors at the Lac-Megantic trial Monday to take all the time they need to reach a verdict for three former railway employees accused in the tragedy that killed 47 people.

 

Earlier in the day, the jury -- which began deliberating last Thursday -- sent Quebec Superior Court Justice Gaetan Dumas an envelope, sparking excitement at the courthouse in Sherbrooke about a possible verdict.

 

It was not to be, however, as jurors instead asked Dumas for a dictionary and for clarification on various judicial matters such as the concept of "reasonable doubt."

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

CBC News, 1/16/18:
 

Lac-Mégantic trial judge exhorts jurors to try to agree on verdict

After 6 days of deliberations, jurors seek guidance on what to do in event they cannot agree

 

 

A Quebec Superior Court judge has urged the jury in the trial of three former railway workers charged in the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster to continue deliberations and try to reach a unanimous verdict.

 

"Would you please try once again to reach a verdict?" Justice Gaétan Dumas asked the eight men and four women who have been deliberating for six days now at the courthouse in Sherbrooke, Que.

 

On Tuesday afternoon, jurors sent a note to the judge seeking guidance on how to proceed.

 

"We are at an impasse. What happens in the event we cannot agree?" jurors asked.

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

CP24 Toronto 1/18/18:
 

Lac-Megantic jury to deliberate today for eighth consecutive day

 

 

SHERBROOKE, Que. - Day 8 of jury deliberations is over at the Lac-Megantic criminal negligence trial.

 

There was no news from the 12 jurors for a second straight day today and they will resume their work Friday.

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

Reuters, 1/19/18:

 

UPDATE 1-Canadian jury acquits 3 over Lac Megantic derailment

 

2 Min Read

 

TORONTO/MONTREAL, Jan 19 (Reuters) - A Canadian jury on Friday found three former rail workers not guilty of criminal negligence causing death in connection with a 2013 crude-by-rail derailment that killed 47 in the town of Lac Megantic in Quebec.

 

The downtown section of Lac Megantic was destroyed following the July 2013 derailment of a Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd train carrying crude oil.

The derailment was one of the deadliest rail accidents in Canadian history. It sparked calls to improve rail safety, prompting Canada to end use of one-man crews to move dangerous goods and enhance protection standards for tank cars transporting crude.

 

The jury acquitted operations manager Jean Demaître, 53, rail traffic controller Richard Labrie, 59, and locomotive engineer Tom Harding, 56.

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

Global News 1/19/18:
 

Lac-Megantic trial: 3 men found not guilty of criminal negligence in train derailment that killed 47 people

 

 

Three men have been found not guilty of criminal negligence causing death in the Lac-Megantic railway disaster that killed 47 people.

 

Tom Harding, Richard Labrie and Jean Demaitre, were all found not guilty on Friday in connection with the deadly tragedy in July 2013 when a runaway train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded in Lac-Mégantic, Que.

 

Harding was also found not guilty of dangerous operation of railway equipment and of dangerous operation of railway equipment causing death.

 

Continue here.

[CNJRoss]

Canadian Press via Sudbury.com 2/5/18:
 

MMA and former employees settle, fined $1.25 million in Lac-Megantic case

 

MONTREAL — The bankrupt railway at the centre of the Lac-Megantic train explosion as well, as several of its former employees, settled with federal prosecutors on Monday and were ordered to pay fines totalling $1.25 million, while one ex-railway worker was given a conditional jail term.

 

Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway, the company that owned the train that derailed in the small town killing 47 people, was found guilty in Quebec Court of violating the Fisheries Act after crude oil leaked into the Megantic Lake and Chaudiere River.

 

The company was ordered to pay the maximum fine of $1 million due to "the seriousness of the infraction," said Josee Pratte, lawyer with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, which brought the charges.

 

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Six ex-MMA employees pleaded guilty to violating the Railway Safety Act, namely for failing to ensure the convoy was properly secured the night before it moved on its own and derailed into the small town.

 

 

More here.

 

[CNJRoss]

YouTube:
 

Lac Megantic Rail Disaster 5 years later

 

Thunderbolt 1000 Siren Productions

Published on Jul 5, 2018

 

WARNING: I'M VERY SORRY IF I MISPRONOUNCE NAMES OR LOCATIONS. Uploaded the exact time disaster struck. Here's a highly requested documentary and then again I haven't made one in a while. A shortline oil train is parked on a downhill grade when a combination of events cause it to run away down towards Lac Megantic and derail.