Train Excursions require how much insurance?
Train Excursions require how much insurance?
Ok Gusey et al: knock it off with the straw men - nobody’s arguing that the impossible be done, we’re simply apportioning responsibility.
Or would you claim that if a homeless person decides to vandalize your truck causing thousands of dollars in damage, that nobody should criticize them because they can’t afford to fix it!
The MM&A has a moral responsibility to pay for the damage. The fact they can’t - that they had a completely avoidable accident doing something that - if it went wrong - they knew would cause damages considerably more than they could afford to pay - is another black mark against them.
PS Reuters is reporting that MM&A is saying $194 million in liability for the wreck. http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-07/montreal-maine-railway-files-for-bankruptcy-after-crash.html
The problem here is the railway does not have the wherewithal to fight all the fights. If the insurance company is denying the claim I would have to wonder aloud on what grounds. You cannot haul hazmat without proof of financial liability. IE either insurance to pay for cleanup or sufficient financial assets to pay for a disaster. This is why an organization has or is required to have insurance. Most transportation concerns also have catastrophic coverage. If Mr Burkhart is having trouble with his insurance carrier, it would go a long way towards explaining his response and actions in this affair.
I am confused, but then I confuse easy, I carry 2 million on my car and 2 million on my apartment and 2 million on the Condo. Any job site the tender spec call for minimum 5 million per vehicle. When the police pull me over it drivers licence and proof of insurance.
Ed tries to run a railroad with $25 million coverage and tries to run unit crude oil trains. Am I missing something? Guess it’s time that government mandate insurance coverage for Hazmat as we cannot expect third rate outfits like Ed’s to do it themselves.
Now hold on all you Republican’s, that do not want government involvement, this happened in Quebec not the US.
Note to Ed, there is no extradition treaty in place between Canada and Peru as well as the US and Peru.
Seems to me that Goosie is more concerned whether MM&A should pay for it’s mishandling it’s railroad that the terrible loss of life and property. The fact is Ed burckhart Screwed up big time. No 1 Only having one man running that train. No 2 Not having enough insurance to cover any accidents such as this one. Cut corners and guess what! That bit him in the ass and good!
Just a couple of further comments – although this is so far down the list that I doubt that they will be read.
The most important one is in response to Mr. Erena. I would be devastated had my daughter – who happens to be twenty-something and lives in the area – been in the bar. Would suing someone have brought her back? No. Would looking at a huge cheque sitting on my desk waiting for deposit assuage the grief? No. To be very, very blunt: if you or anyone else can exchange the love and companionship of a human being for money, I feel very sorry for you.
For Mr. Warner: it is impossible to carry enough insurance to pay for a really major catastrophe and the subsequent lawsuits. I carry much the same insurance you do – but forgive me for pointing it out, but we are talking billions in lawsuits here, not millions. There is a difference.
Not surprised myself
In these days of maximizing profits for the shareholders, the bosses take every avenue to keep them happy. Bigger trains, smaller crews, less maintenance, least insurance liability coverage possible-AND park the train questionably on top of a hill. Ed and the boys created the horrific scenario that befell that town-and we are supposed to feel sympathetic to the railroad’s plight. They took the chance, it bit them in the ass, and they should suffer the consequences. No one wants to see a railroad fail. But when they seem to ask for it…
A one-person train crew working a hazmat cargo is asking for trouble. Economy is one thing. Playing with matches in a closet is another. The potential for disaster was there. Precautionary efforts were not. Financial considrations be damned. Someone needs to beheld accountable for the tragic loss of lives – not money.
Operating a railroad with diaphanously thin insurance coverage is about as reckless as you can get. Once the connecting Class Is understand their own potential exposure for interchanging cars to such disasters waiting to happen it would not be surprising to see AAR determine an appropriate minimum level of coverage as a condition of interchange. I’ll start the bidding at $200 million.
So, Mr. Frailey, do you still think Mr. Burkhardt has been unfairly bashed?
Take the railroads the thief Burkhardt runs in Poland, New Zealand, etc., translate it all into cash and pour it into the cleanup. And then take Burkhardt’s home - as well as his vacation homes and his cars. Burkhardt was a soulless taskmaster when he worked at C&NW, and his reward for the vaporized innocents at Lac Megantic will be to roast in Hell, a fate he richly deserves.