Québec oil-freight train explosion

[lagatta]

No other news around here, even the municipal "corruption and collusion" scandals have taken a back seat. At least five people dead and 40 missing, the historic town centre of Lac Mégantic gutted, oil spills in the adjacent waterways...

I'm posting the Guardian story first, as I think it explains the story well for an international audience: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/08/quebec-train-explosion-police-investigate

It was a beautiful Friday night and a lot of people were out celebrating and listening to musicians at the local pub/café...

[mossie]

This is a terrible accident.

The safety measures must be investigated and if necessary beefed up. But you cannot legislate for stupidity or incompetence.

[Deleted]

One of the things that I read in the press was that the rail company is American owned and operated. I frankly saw no reason to mention such a detail unless somebody can prove that the trains are operated under American procedures and that these procedures are 'inferior' to Canadian procedures. Otherwise, it looks like just another case of somebody not wanting to take any responsibility and preferring to simplistically blame the problem on 'ownership.'

[lagatta]

It's not a matter of it being under US ownership; it is a question of companies that take over abandoned lines and aren't up to industry safety standards.

[nautiker]

strongly reminds me of the Viareggio incident (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viareggio_train_derailment) four years ago, where a similar inferno took place

if I understand correctly, the cause of that case is still not fully clear - could have been the Italian Railway (FS, tracks), German Railways (DB, registration of wagon) or the American GATX company (owner of the wagon and responsible for its maintenance) responsible, so IMO questions about all parties involved are valid...

I accept that freight wagons are pretty long-living and not as dependant on regular and minute checks as e.g. aeroplanes, however considering that some of these wagons are up to several decades old and transport large amounts of highly risky stuff right through densly populated areas can be hair-raising at times!