Three years ago today…
Three years ago today, the people of Lac-Mégantic could never have imagined this.
Transport Canada
Commentary
The positive legacy of Lac-Mégantic: Zero
Three years ago, in the early hours of July 13, a runaway oil train exploded in the then-idyllic lakeside town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, killing 47 people.
Canada proposing locomotive emissions regs
For the first time, the Government of Canada is attempting to regulate air pollutant emissions from locomotives. The proposed regulations are being developed under the Railway Safety Act, with a focus on health and the environment.
Transport Canada’s “classified” Lac-Mégantic payment
In a curious role reversal, Canada’s former Minister of Transport, now opposition politician Lisa Raitt, has revealed that the Canadian government quietly paid C$75 million toward compensation for victims of the 2013 oil trains disaster that killed 47 in the Quebec resort town of Lac-Mégantic.
Transport Canada scrutinized for safety snafus
The reputation of Canada’s much-criticized rail regulator is being further pummeled, both by its elected master and by the union representing lineside safety inspectors.
Commentary
Canada’s Trudeau reaches heavenward for new Transport Minister
Canada’s freshly elected Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, reached heavenward Nov. 4, 2015 in selecting the country’s new Transport Minister, former NASA Space Shuttle astronaut Marc Garneau. The 66-year-old Garneau was Canada’s first man in space, logging 677 hours during three flights between 1984 and 2000.
Funding agreed for Ottawa – Montreal upgrade
Canadian Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt and Yves Desjardins-Siciliano, President and CEO of Via Rail, announced on July 31, 2015 that the Canadian government will invest $C 102.5 million ($US 77.6 million) over two years to improve the safety and efficiency of passenger operations on the 187km Ottawa – Montreal corridor.
Charges made in connection with Lac-Mégantic train derailment
Transport Canada has uncovered serious violations in connection with the horrific 2013 oil train derailment in Lac-Mégantic under the Railway Safety Act and the Fisheries Act, the department announced June 22, 2015.
DOT-117 tank car rule debuts with controversy
The final spec for the now-official DOT-117 (TC-117 in Canada) non-pressurized tank car adopts the most demanding of the technical requirements first offered for comment in the notice of rulemaking: jacketed and thermally insulated shells of 9/16-inch steel, full-height half-inch-thick head shields, sturdier, re-closeable pressure relief valves and rollover protection for top fittings.
Commentary
U.S. sway affects Canada CBR safety focus
Transport Canada’s selection March 11, 2015 of new tank car specifications is surely a harbinger of the choice the White House will make later this spring from among the options proposed by U.S. rail and hazmat regulators.