Oil train disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Québec 07-06-2013

mr. norman. you are too gentle . this wasn't class i v class 11 thinking. it was an issue of greed. i have posted that mma was 'penny-wise' in their approach to this valuable cargo. how else do you explain the abject failure to properly serve this move. i had estimated that mma was grossing $100k per move. surely that provided enough cash to lease quality power and establish rational crewing geography and compensation. ken patrick

In today's(10/31/13)New York Times,PG B-1,an article about Canadian crude oil via the rails,
"An End -Around for Oil,Looking for a Way Past Keystone XL,Canadian Crude Hits the Rails"
Fair use quote(per regs),"Overall,Canada is poised to quadruple it's rail loading capacity over the next few years
to as much as 900,000 barrels a day,up from 180,000 today"

There is mention of the Lac Megantic wreck in the article.

Here is an X-posting from the Bakken Crude topic addressing the article noted by Mr. Backshop :

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 5#p1225775" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Those here who hold Mr. Patrick's views, and be assured I am not one of such, with regards to need for Hours of Service laws, should be interested in this material, albeit rail unrelated, appearing in Today's Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 2881942740" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pertinent brief passage supporting Mr. Patrick's views:

• Manuel Hernandez is one of a vanishing breed: a professional long-haul trucker.
  
  He loves backing an 18-wheeler into a tight spot. He has been patiently training new drivers for more than eight years.
  
  Lately, though, Mr. Hernandez's patience has been worn thin by a confusing tangle of rules, efficiency directives, and electronic devices that cap his speed, log his every move, and practically try to autopilot his truck.
  
  Magnifying the stress are more federal rule changes that took effect in July and are now roiling the industry.
  
  Under the revised rule, the average workweek has been shortened to 70 hours from 82. They must take one 30-minute break during the first eight hours of driving. And the required 34-hour break between workweeks now must extend over two nights, including the hours between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
  
  Those changes are proving more disruptive because they are added on to existing requirements that limit drivers to driving 11 hours a day and require them to rest a consecutive 10 hours.

The underlying problem is that all too many transportation employees, if given the opportunity, would operate their equipment, be it flight, highway, or rail, without regards to need for rest.

Thank you for the WSJ article, Mr. Norman.

Putting on my moderator hat: I want to make sure, however, that we don't end up embarking on another several-pages-long debate about current HOS laws. It's a debate worth having, but it would be better suited to one of the General Discussion forums.

my point on hos in this situation is that slavish adherence by the engineer led to the disaster. regulations can never equal human intellect. unfortunately with the doubling of federal employees we now have a doubling of regulations. the outcome is we become increasingly moribund. ken patrick

(As preface, I have tried to stay distanced from some of the comments posted under the name of KEN PATRICK, but my personal modulus of elasticity has been exceeded.)

KEN-

Are you a finder of fact or are you merely "opining" when you state

my point on hos in this situation is that slavish adherence by the engineer led to the disaster?

Also, you state

regulations can never equal human intellect.

Unless they are handed down from the divine or up from the diabolic, regulations are the product of human intellect. Regulations can actually serve to counter some of the antisocial aims and outcomes of aspects of the human intellect.
Further, you state

unfortunately with the doubling of federal employees we now have a doubling of regulations.

While that position is frequently stated by certain political groups, the Federal workforce has not doubled, at least over the last half century. Regulations probably have doubled over the last half century.
In closing, you state

the outcome is we become increasingly moribund.

Keyboarding strictly for myself, an admittedly small and atypical sample, I have experienced no increase in moribundity. If you have, then please accept my regrets.
As a point of curiosity, in your professional practice as a cpa, did/do you manifest "slavish adherence" to state and Federal regulations both for yourself and for your clients?
You have frequently taken management to task for some of its practices. Have you researched management resistance to regulations in the matters of knuckle couplers, automatic airbrakes, roller bearings, safety appliances, and -- yes -- hours of service?

Yours in crisis,
jaymac

(Apologies for OTness and feeding.)

jaymac,

I would submit it was opining.

Returning to our subject at hand does anyone know what the latest progress on cleanup is? From some of what has been posted it almost sounded as if they are now transitioning to remediation.

KEN PATRICK wrote:my point on hos in this situation is that slavish adherence by the engineer led to the disaster. regulations can never equal human intellect. unfortunately with the doubling of federal employees we now have a doubling of regulations. the outcome is we become increasingly moribund. ken patrick

Mr, Patrick, fellow CPA, I don't think the adherence to the letter of the HOS laws in this instance can relate to the Engineer, Mr. Harding, himself. It is, IMHO, with management that failed to recognize they were confronted with a situation that constituted an 'emergency'; and as such would warrant a breaking of the only man in the area qualified on train handling rest under HOS, and for whatever reason failed to recognize such and accordingly react.

I wholly beiieve there were institutional deficiencies within MM&A management culture that disabled an appropriate response to an emergency situation. I can only hope that the Canadian investigative board with jurisdiction will recognize such.

Without delving into another HOS marathon an engineer is basically a drone. He follows the company operating rulebook religiously and obeys all federal laws pertaining to his craft and if he deviates instant dismissal and even in extreme cases jail may await. This guy went off duty when his 12 hours' were up, Period. However on what I surmise is a lightly managed property, as opposed to a maniacally managed property think NS,there probably wasn't a Trainmaster or Road foreman within 100 miles of Megantic. Hence calling out MMA section hands, unqualified in the intricacies of diesel locomotives, to oversee the Nantes F.D. do their thing.
I stated in a previous post the MMA failed to properly analyze risk when they had as a matter of operating policy ordered that all standing locomotives be shut down, except the lead unit, to conserve fuel. Failure to analyze risk is what sank the Titanic. Be it front line operating employees or corporate suits, this type of behavior is the bitter seed that has, over decades, blossomed into thousand's of air crashes, maritime disasters and train wrecks.

jaymac wrote:Further, you state

unfortunately with the doubling of federal employees we now have a doubling of regulations.

While that position is frequently stated by certain political groups, the Federal workforce has not doubled, at least over the last half century. Regulations probably have doubled over the last half century.

Just wanted to point out that, since the population of the United States has roughly doubled in the last half century, it should not be a surprise if the Federal workforce were to have doubled; if it hasn't, that would mean the bureaucrats are more productive now than they were under the Eisenhower administration...

Back on topic-- if the construction season up in Quebec hasn't ended yet, I'd imagine it's about to: looks like the average low temperature in Megantic this time of year is 22F. Am I right in thinking that any major work on, say, a line diversion around the town is going to wait until next year?

Ridgefielder wrote:Back on topic-- if the construction season up in Quebec hasn't ended yet, I'd imagine it's about to: looks like the average low temperature in Megantic this time of year is 22F. Am I right in thinking that any major work on, say, a line diversion around the town is going to wait until next year?

I would think so. It will probably slow down the cleanup as well.

Ridgefielder wrote:

jaymac wrote:Further, you state

unfortunately with the doubling of federal employees we now have a doubling of regulations.

While that position is frequently stated by certain political groups, the Federal workforce has not doubled, at least over the last half century. Regulations probably have doubled over the last half century.

Just wanted to point out that, since the population of the United States has roughly doubled in the last half century, it should not be a surprise if the Federal workforce were to have doubled; if it hasn't, that would mean the bureaucrats are more productive now than they were under the Eisenhower administration...

Back on topic-- if the construction season up in Quebec hasn't ended yet, I'd imagine it's about to: looks like the average low temperature in Megantic this time of year is 22F. Am I right in thinking that any major work on, say, a line diversion around the town is going to wait until next year?

The diversion around town is years off because foremost, you need to find someone to finance it. Good luck with that..

Zeke wrote:This guy went off duty when his 12 hours' were up, Period.

What is the source of saying he had reached his Canadian Hours of Service limit, instead of just the end of his run?
There has also been some speculation that the train was left on the hill because there was not enough track space near the motel in Lac-Mégantic, not because the engineer ran out of hours on the hill.

Mr. U2-C, I sincerely hope that your report suggesting that the train had operated from Farnham, or wherever it was interchanged to the MM&AC, to Nantes in about nine hours, can be supported, for such would place a high degree of negligence on the Engineer, who still had three hours of legal service available, or ample time to do a proper tie down. The news reports linked here as well as the discussion at the topic suggest that the train arrived at Nantes with maybe a half hour of free time - and hardly enough for one man to tie down the train before going 'overboard' under Hours of Service.

There is an awful lot riding on just how much time was available after arriving at Nantes; let's get this one right!!