Smoke rises from destroyed railway cars that were carrying crude oil after derailing in downtown Lac-Mégantic, Que., the day after the derailment and explosion killed 47 people.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
Lac-Mégantic haunts rail transportation in North America. Here’s a look at how little has changed when it comes to rail safety since the disaster in rural Québec10 years ago.
A trooper checks the tire of a truck carrying flammable contents during a random hazmat checkpoint in Colorado.
Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is looking into new rules for trains. Trucks, however, are involved in thousands more hazmat incidents every year in the US.
A policy decision to allow the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway — a company with a poor safety record – to run its trains through a town in Québec with single person crews resulted the fourth deadliest railway disaster in Canadian history in 2013. Eight years later, Transport Canada is still suffering from safety issues.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Industries have blocked or delayed new regulations and pushed to remove or dilute existing regulations by framing regulations as detrimental to creating jobs and wealth.
The recent train derailment in B.C. was one of a rash of high-profile derailments in Canada since the beginning of 2019. While none compares in magnitude with Lac-Mégantic, they evoke disturbing parallels to that tragedy.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
The recent B.C. train derailment raises questions about whether any lessons have been learned from the Lac-Mégantic disaster of 2013.
Fire crews douse derailed tanker cars carrying crude oil in downtown Lac-Mégantic, Que., in this July 6, 2013, file photo. A trial is now underway for three former railway employees charged in connection with the fatal train derailment.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson)