Houston, 10 July (Argus) — Maine governor Paul LePage has ordered a safety review of freight rail in his state, which closely borders the town in Quebec, Canada, that last weekend was devastated when a train loaded with crude derailed and exploded, leveling buildings and killing at least 15 people.
The unit train was moving crude to St John, New Brunswick, on Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA) tracks which cross Maine. That particular route would have taken it through the US state on its way to St John, where Irving Oil operates a 300,000 b/d refinery – the largest in Canada.
The Maine border is just miles away from Lac-Megantic, Quebec, where the derailment occurred. More than 200 police continued to scour the site, which is now classified as a crime scene. Two more bodies were pulled from the wreckage, bringing the death toll to 15. The list of missing also continues to rise and is now at 45 people, up from 37, according to the Surete du Quebec (SQ). The SQ has warned the number of missing remains in flux and could increase.
Maine consists of over 1,100 miles of rail trackage. The rail system is regulated and inspected by a federal agency, meaning the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) will rely on data from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to compile its report.
The report will be more focused on safety, rather than on the types of commodities hauled, MDOT spokesman Ted Talbot said. If the report's results raise alarm, LePage could appeal to the FRA and other government agencies to act. The MDOT itself does not oversee railways.
“This really has more to do with safety. If things are safe, we'll not at all really… we need not review what gets hauled, necessarily,” Talbot said. “We're all concerned when there's an incident like this and it forces good questions.”
LePage has asked the MDOT report include MMA's inspection records. The report is due within 90 days but is likely to be finished sooner. The governor is also urging legislators to pass a $100mn proposal he put forth in March for transportation projects that would include building and rehabilitating freight and passenger railroads and other transit modes, including highways, bridges and ports.
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