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Police raid Montreal, Maine & Atlantic office
The headline makes it sound like the police on their own initiative broke in and basically raided the place. In reality, the police had a warrant. Trying to bash the police for doing their job?
I would get some pictures, but with the main line severed, there’s not much left running.
Whoever was responsible needs to be tried for manslaughter ot negligent homicide.
Whoever was responsible needs to be tried for manslaughter ot negligent homicide.
Farewell, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic. If one hasn’t gotten pictures of it, get them now.
Nothing surprising in this as a procedural and routine followup covering all investigative aspects of the case. I would be surprised if they did not. It is simply a procedural step, one of many in the event this turns out to be a case where criminal charges might or might not arise. This step in of itself signifies nothing, as of yet.
The Safety Board in Canada is investigating. I would expect them to be quite thorough considering the attention and some of the issues involved. Give the investigators the time to do it right. Having the warrant sounds like being thorough.
Should airlines be expected to be forced out of business when a plane crashes killing all 200 people on board? No. Same for MM&A.
@JIM NORTON - Some airlines have been forced out of business after accidents. ValuJet is famous for kinda sorta saving itself from being completely shut down by the FAA by “buying” AirTran, but letting the latter take it over (essentially buying new management.) Like MM&A, VJ had a terrible disaster which came after well documented lax safety practices.
The difference here, I guess, is that it seems unlikely anyone will want to buy MM&A.
@JEFFERY GUSE - I think Trains Magazine is getting very… protective about MM&A on this issue. I’m getting the increasing feeling that the things everyone outside of the industry sees as utterly damning are actually standard practice within the industry, and as a fully fledged member of the railroad establishment, Trains doesn’t want to rock the boat, let alone point at long time friends and say “This guy may have done wrong.”
I hope I’m wrong, but it does kinda explain the FRA’s frequently over-the-top dictates on, say, railcar standards that make others familiar with the way the rest of the world works point and laugh. I’m thinking the NTSB and FRA simply do not trust the US railroad industry to pay a cent towards safety when it could go in to profits.
I think that we should wait for the federal investigators to finish their investigations and let the courts decide. Hopefully, the emotions and the politics will be properly left by the wayside. I feel horrible for the community of Lac Megantic but I also feel horrible for the MM&A and its people. Please don’t be jumping to conclusions and start blaming everyone in sight before we know what really happened.
Right on Jeffery! I rarely agree with you, but this time, you are oh so right. The police followed the law and had a warrant to seize papers. It will be interesting to read what the police found. Stay tuned.
MM&A is a sad case of bean counters not knowing what the operational world is about. One man crew, great on paper, how much will be shelled out for legal settlements? 47 people dead for operational efficiencies ? Let’s put some brakes on all these “efficiencies”. NOW !
MM&A is a sad case of bean counters not knowing what the operational world is about. One man crew, great on paper, how much will be shelled out for legal settlements? 47 people dead for operational efficiencies ? Let’s put some brakes on all these “efficiencies”. NOW !
The 1-man crew has its place with smaller trains on more-level non-mainline track. But the idea that a 5-loco, 70+ car train can be taken by one person to a place where it is then left on a 1.3% grade, and then expect the person ending his shift to then start tying down however many handbrakes are required to hold this train on this grade is asking a bit much. A train requiring this much attention should have a 2-man crew minimum. Most railroads consider a 2% grade an ops headache and this grade was right at two-thirds of that. Notice that I haven’t commented on what the train was carrying.
As to the comparisons to ValuJet, I lost a dear friend in that crash. Yes that company deserved to be closed, and their negligence proved that as a matter of national security, there are people in this country who have no business filling out a bill of lading or other shipping document based on their ignorance of the appropriate regulations. Regretfully I continued to see too many instances of shipping papers with poorly-described or not-at-all described commodity descriptions during my time in LTL trucking which mercifully ended two years ago (I’m now with a 3PL that has a much better handle on this).
Don’t depend on the government to keep this from happening again. As for me, I just don’t fly, period.
I agree that anytime a train is left on a grade of that extent it should be mandantory for a two person crew to be occupying the train…In the article it said tbe fire dept. was there and they shut down the engine that was retaining the brake pressure, which also should be looked into…because the only reason it stayed as long as it did was because the engine was running. When turned off then the psi started leaking down and then the handbrakes (what few were applied) failed…so you tell me who was at fault?
To Ed Burkhardt and all his yuppie bean counters; “you reapeth what thou soweth”!
I am surprised that it is routine procedure to leave a train like MM & A did unattended. Only one crew member, awesome responsibility. That poor employee has to live with what has happened. Clearly something needs to change.
This gives the entire rail industry a black mark, no doubt this would not have happened on the UP, or could it.
I reserve more judgement until a more complete report is issued