Police Weigh Criminal Charges in Quebec Rail Crash
Canadian authorities are investigating potential criminal acts or negligence following Saturday’s crash of runaway railcars loaded with crude oil that exploded in a Quebec town, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.
The accident has sharpened the debate in Canada and the United States about which mode of transportation is safest and most economical for carrying growing output of crude oil from North Dakota and western Canadian oil sands, the Washington Post reported, and has also reignited calls for stricter standards for ethanol and oil-tank railcars.
U.S. and Canadian crude-by-rail shipments have jumped in the past two years, the Association of American Railroads reported Tuesday.
The death toll from the derailment and subsequent explosion in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, was raised to 15, and about 35 others are still missing, provincial police officials said Tuesday.
The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway train broke loose early Saturday and rolled downhill for about seven miles before jumping the tracks at 63 mph in the town, located about 10 miles from the Maine border, the Associated Press reported.
The rail company is owned by Rail World Inc., based in Chicago. CEO Edward Burkhardt told reporters on his way to visit the site Tuesday night that while his company bears some responsibility for the crash, it did not have full responsibility, Bloomberg reported.
Government officials at an Ottawa press conference Tuesday said it was “rare” for a railway to leave its train unattended on a main line, Bloomberg reported.
