Investigators at Nantes, Quebec, examine tanker cars that were pulled away from the Lake Megantic train disaster - 11 Jul 2013 Ryan Remiorz.

12 September 2013

Inspectors Close Substandard
Section of MMA Railway Track

Ottawa Ontario - An inspection of track owned by the Montreal Maine & Atlantic (MMA) rail company at the centre of the Lake Megantic disaster has found so many deficiencies that one section is effectively closed.
 
Transport Canada has restricted movement on 19 kilometres of substandard track in Quebec, and cited "a number of areas of concern" elsewhere after inspecting 337 kilometres of line owned by MMA.
 
It's just the latest in litany of safety issues that have emerged following the derailment and explosion of their train.
 
Transport Canada said it inspected the track over a two-week period in late July and early August and found railway crossings in poor condition, poor signage, track defects, clusters of defective ties, "non-compliant rail joints," poor ballast along the roadbed, and vegetation obscuring the line.
 
The department issued an order to MMA to have one particularly poor section, which passes by a propane storage facility, inspected by a professional engineer.
 
"Essentially no traffic shall move on this section of track until such an assessment has been completed and the results communicated to Transport Canada," said the report, posted on the department's web site Thursday.
 
Author unknown.
 
Editor's Note:  Article abridged, data repeated from earlier news articles removed.

Vancouver Island
British Columbia
Canada