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Canadian jury acquits three over Lac Megantic derailment

By Anna Mehler Paperny and Allison Lampert

 

FILE PHOTO: The remains of a burnt train are seen in Lac Megantic, Quebec, Canada, July 8, 2013. REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger/File Photo

 

TORONTO/MONTREAL (Reuters) - A Canadian jury on Friday found three former rail workers not guilty of criminal negligence causing death in connection with a 2013 crude-by-rail derailment that killed 47 in the town of Lac Megantic in Quebec.

 

The downtown section was destroyed following the July 2013 derailment of a Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd train carrying crude oil, in one of Canada's deadliest rail accidents.

 

Calls to improve rail safety prompted Canada to end use of one-man crews to move dangerous goods and enhance protection standards for tank cars transporting crude.

 

The jury acquitted operations manager Jean Demaître, 53, rail traffic controller Richard Labrie, 59, and locomotive engineer Tom Harding, 56.

 

The three worked for the now-defunct Montreal Maine & Atlantic railway, which operated the runaway train carrying 7.7 million liters (2 million gallons) of volatile Bakken crude oil, according to a 2014 accident report.

 

"It was a long process, but now it's over and my only hope is that we can actually turn the page and become anonymous again, as we were before 2013," an emotional Labrie told reporters in the courthouse.

 

The verdict followed nine days of deliberations and multiple questions posed by the jury which had initially hit an impasse.

 

Harding's lawyer, Tom Walsh, said this was "a very fair verdict," adding that his client was "terribly relieved and terribly thankful to the system."

 

"He will always be the poster boy for Lac Megantic and the Lac Megantic tragedy, whether we like it or not," his lawyer said.The trial came amid an expected resurgence in rail shipments of less volatile Canadian crude in 2018 as tight pipeline capacity is pushing more oil onto railroads.

 

Julie Morin, mayor of Lac Megantic, near the U.S. border with Maine, said she was not surprised by the jury's decision and was glad that they were finally able to reach a verdict. While railway safety has improved since the 2013 tragedy, she said Lac Megantic was still asking for a detour so the track would bypass the town.

 

"Whatever the verdict, it does not change what we are living here," she said by phone.

 

Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement that "this accident reminds us of the importance of having effective legislation and a rigorous enforcement regime for our rail transportation system."

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-01-20

[mok199]

safety ''last''..

[Stargeezr]

The engineer who did not put on the brakes correctly, was acquitted??    So not guilty for not doing his job? Unbelievable..

Geezer

[MaeJoMTB]

11 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

The engineer who did not put on the brakes correctly, was acquitted??

  So not guilty for not doing his job? Unbelievable..

Geezer

Being stupid or incompetent is not a crime.

Malice needs to be proven.

[pegman]

49 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

The engineer who did not put on the brakes correctly, was acquitted??    So not guilty for not doing his job? Unbelievable..

Geezer

Wrong. Mechanical hand brakes are the least effective way to keep a train stationary on grade. The pneumatic freight car brakes should have been applied with an emergency application but the instructions were not to. That railway should never have received an operating licence. The CEO, Edward Burkhardt, has a decades long reputation of running shoddy safety practices on railways in Canada, USA,  UK, Austrialia and New Zealand. It got him turfed by the WC Board of Directors. Here is another example of his recklessness. The Crown needs to charge him.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weyauwega,_Wisconsin,_derailment

[mok199]

7 hours ago, pegman said:

Wrong. Mechanical hand brakes are the least effective way to keep a train stationary on grade. The pneumatic freight car brakes should have been applied with an emergency application but the instructions were not to. That railway should never have received an operating licence. The CEO, Edward Burkhardt, has a decades long reputation of running shoddy safety practices on railways in Canada, USA,  UK, Austrialia and New Zealand. It got him turfed by the WC Board of Directors. Here is another example of his recklessness. The Crown needs to charge him.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weyauwega,_Wisconsin,_derailment

not sure where your getting your info...this incedent is very unusual,with a couple of twists leading up to the runaway,if you are interested in trains.. I encourage you read the inquiry at cra Canada,its a good read...As an engineer for 35 years in Canada..i have so much to say about this ,but its all technical and boring and personal ,I watched for 35 years as they cut and reduced and downsized .to appease the sharholders ..one man crews can be disasterous.....have a good day..

[pegman]

14 hours ago, mok199 said:

not sure where your getting your info...this incedent is very unusual,with a couple of twists leading up to the runaway,if you are interested in trains.. I encourage you read the inquiry at cra Canada,its a good read...As an engineer for 35 years in Canada..i have so much to say about this ,but its all technical and boring and personal ,I watched for 35 years as they cut and reduced and downsized .to appease the sharholders ..one man crews can be disasterous.....have a good day..

37 years as a carman and worked as  a union National Legislative Rep. I gave a brief at the St. John NTA hearing into CPR's application to abandon that line in 1993. The decision coming out of that started the clock ticking leading to this disaster. I also attended a conference in 1998 in Berlin where union reps from around the world who represented workers at railroads owned by Burkhardt told  rail safety horror stories. I also dealt directly with the top rail official at Transport Canada on safety matters when he was a railway manager. To correct you there has not been an inquiry. There obviously needs to be one. An accident investigation was done but the TSB which I read when it was released.

[mok199]

23 minutes ago, pegman said:

37 years as a carman and worked as  a union National Legislative Rep. I gave a brief at the St. John NTA hearing into CPR's application to abandon that line in 1993. The decision coming out of that started the clock ticking leading to this disaster. I also attended a conference in 1998 in Berlin where union reps from around the world who represented workers at railroads owned by Burkhardt told  rail safety horror stories. I also dealt directly with the top rail official at Transport Canada on safety matters when he was a railway manager. To correct you there has not been an inquiry. There obviously needs to be one. An accident investigation was done but the TSB which I read when it was released.

thanks ....I know when I hired on in the 70's we had full crews ,cabosses ,and(basicly) no rules...the employees ran the railway.... ,in some ways it changed for the better ( after the hinton ''dalehurst '' incident''where I lost several freinds'') rest rules became stricter and then we lost the caboose and 3 sat in the loco ,that was extreemy dangerous as we were always b.s.ing...not a ''sterile cab enviorment''..then came the 12000 ft trains,and very long layovers..in the end we all just wanted to retire..I worked for union pacific 2005 for a year as a cond,it was a real eye opener to see how they do it in the usa..total chaos with very very young qualified  train crews..with no real respect for the job..all the employees these days feel it is just a ''part time until I find something better job''...very scary...miss running trains and the snow...but sure like having every night in bed.....john