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MM&A could be sold before the end of 2013
Would the companies responsibility for the Lac-Mégantic derailment transfer with the sale?
No. The MM&A will retain responsibility. By selling the assets to a completely different company the bankrupt MM&A will raise funds to partially pay down their debts. Expect years in the courts sorting out which creditors get how much. But whatever company (if any) ultimately buys the track will have a fresh start. Same way if you buy a used car you are not responsible for the unpaid parking fines of the previous owner.
And McAdam station has not had a lunch counter for decades. But it is protected under heritage legislation, and was even featured on a Canadian postage stamp.
J. D. Irving: go for it! Restore the McAdam, NB station, while you are at it. Many fond memories of the breakfast stop while traveling on “The Gull”, Boston-Nova Scotia. I do buy your gasoline, when in the area.
Perhaps now a responsible party will own the RR; not that cheap S.O.B. Burkhardt.
Mr Caramella. Mr Burkhart is attempting to responsibly manage the property for the creditors. Transportation businesses have more value as ongoing concerns then being sold for strictly the fire sale price of the land and the scrap value of the track and locomotives. I would guess Mr Burkhart receiving only a minimal amount of compensation(think minimum wage) for any work he is doing at MM&A. Very few talented people will continue in a job without a valued compensation. When you start a business and the week you start that business your largest customer closes its door it does not leave one with a lot of options. When MM&A started a large paper company(International Paper I think) was closed. That was the largest shipper on the line at the time. The crude oil trains were viewed as a godsend when they started for the amount of business they generated. As to the wreck please let us see what the safety board has to say. It worries me that the issue of the explosions has not been explained. Yes oil will burn. Oil is not known to explode like it did in Lac-Megantic. The wreck itself did not plow into the buildings yet there was destruction a block away.
In most states before a cars title can be transferred any unpaid parking tickets have to be paid. Any negotiation over the sale of MM&A is going to include what the parties are liable for. In cases where there are undetermined liabilities there has to be agreement over who is responsible for the debts. In many cases after a disaster the property is sold by the judge at auction "on the courthouse steps ".
Gary:
You don’t know what the hell your talking about. How many shortlines have you worked for and have you ever worked for a railroad? When you take over a property that no one else wants, you try to keep it running. It is not easy to make revenue from nothing. Look at what he did with thee Wisconsin Central.
The comments defending Burkhardt’s “Savings over safety” culture are why I’ve lost quite a bit of faith in American railroading over the last few months.
Yes, I understand the appeal of someone who keeps a railroad open, especially after 60+ years of hostile governance and Guisian attacks, but there are times the fight is wrong. If you can’t keep a railroad open without leaving dangerous trains with flaming engines parked unattended on slopes on main-lines one brake failure away from dumping their flaming cargo in a populated downtown, then that railroad shouldn’t be open.
I know many readers here personally know Burkhardt, and he might be a well intentioned nice guy underneath, I have no idea, but I don’t think saving MM&A the way it was done was worth it.
Please wait for the investigation reports before assigning blame!
I agree with Landon Nowell; no one knows what or who was responsible until the report comes out from the investigation.
Save the namecalling until then.
I agree with Landon Nowell; no one knows what or who was responsible until the report comes out from the investigation.
Save the namecalling until then.