From the CBC:
Train is also apparently carrying LP, and it’s not yet known what’s actually burning.
Appears to be not a unit train, but a manifest?
A link to the latest report from CTV News:
Bruce
More from CBC:
Many comments from the public. The safety issue of rail transport of highly inflammable materials is not going to go away, even though some folks wish it would.
Many comments every time an airliner goes down as well. But, folks keep flying.
Not sure what is going on with CNR, they seem to be putting a lot of cars on the ground lately.
Cold. Very cold. Snaps track and rail, makes axles brittle, shifts ground and track. Among things. One report on this one claims train came apart and the emergency stop caused the derailment. but they also said it may or may not have been the cause. So why did they say it might be…some idiot mensa from media will take that and run with that. The truth is that an emergency application could possibly cause a derailment or could have happened because of the derailment…too soon to draw conclusions.
Probably a problem with the track or an axle. An emergency brake application shouldn’t send the train off the rails. In this cold I’d say it was a track related problem. Maybe slow down in the cold and send a hi-railer out to inspect the track ahead of the train. These accidents are very costly…sending a team out ahead to inspect the track would be cheaper and would probably have uncovered the problem.
Railroads do run cold patrols. But stuff can break right in front of, or underneath a train.
The CBC link says:
The CN Rail derailment that is behind a massive fire near Plaster Rock, N.B., appears to be linked to a mechanical failure affecting the brakes, says an official with the Transportation Safety Board.
Very true… but nothing ever breaks suddenly without reason. Usually there’s some indicator that something is about to snap ahead of time. That’s why we/I never accept on road breakdowns. Tires don’t blow up without warning, fuel pumps don’t just run perfectly and then die without warning. An unexpected breakdown is always a human failure…someone didn’t notice the warning signs.
If the track has an ABS or CTC signal system its not a necessity since a broken .rail will cause the signals to drop and pop in a track occupancy on the CTC board. Instant 24x7 coverage.
Plus if they have more than a few trains, putting a hirail in front of every train for hundreds of miles is a huge drain on capacity and resources.
Not necessarily. The failure can be internal to the rail or in a place that can’t be detected by the human eye or a person in a hirail. Even ultrasonic rail defect detectors aren’t sophisticated enough to completely test the entire rail. There are parts that the defect detectors can’t accurately read. The technology is getting better every couple years and railroads invest millions of dollars in equipment or contractors, but there are still limitations.
It could be caused by a wheel in the train damaging the rail, which is broken by following wheels.
Br
Hmmmm. Never had a tire on a train blow up. We must be doing something right.
This line does have CTC; it is on the Napodogan Sub of CN’s Champlain Division, a part of CN’s freight only line which goes through Edmunston between St. Andre Junction (east of Charny) and Pacific Junction ( west of Moncton).
Brake line, not tracks, not human error, according to CBC…
A plane with 250 passengers on board crashes. The airline head of safety is interviewed by the media and says “we couldn’t help it, the wings just fell off…not our fault”. This is what some of you are saying. Train derailments just “happen” sometimes. Oh well. I guess we should be lucky that this one didn’t happen in Toronto or Moncton…
Sometimes they do. Hazard of transporting really big metal things on really small metal things. Or something like a knuckle pin breaks, train comes apart on a sharp curve, loads pop an empty off the rail. I guess we could ultrasound every knuckle pin before every trip?
Equivalent exchange and all that.