A jury of 12 Quebec citizens, after several days of deliberations that came very close to impasse, declined Jan. 19 to accept prosecutors’ contention that three Montreal, Maine & Atlantic employees were criminally responsible for the July 2013 runaway oil train calamity in the lakeside resort town of Lac-Mégantic that claimed 47 lives and destroyed the historic town’s downtown core.
In a curious role reversal, Canada’s former Minister of Transport, now opposition politician Lisa Raitt, has revealed that the Canadian government quietly paid C$75 million toward compensation for victims of the 2013 oil trains disaster that killed 47 in the Quebec resort town of Lac-Mégantic.
The reputation of Canada’s much-criticized rail regulator is being further pummeled, both by its elected master and by the union representing lineside safety inspectors.
Hermon, Maine-based Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway has a new identity – Central Maine and Quebec Railway – following its purchase by Railroad Acquisisition Holdings LLC, an arm of New York-based Fortress Investment Group.
The bankrupt Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MM&A) and three of its former employees are to appear in court in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, Tuesday, May 13, 2014, to face 47 charges of criminal negligence causing death in the runaway derailment and explosion last July 6 of a training carrying oil from North Dakota.
Beleaguered short line Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MM&A), under financial duress due to the July 6, 2013 derailment and explosion of a train in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, has signed a sales agreement with Railroad Acquisisition Holdings LLC, an affiliate of New York-based Fortress Investment Group.
Freight rail service will begin traversing the right-of-way in and around Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013, limited at first to trains hauling dry goods.
Quebec provincial law enforcement could begin making arrests soon due to the July 6 derailment and explosion of a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic (MMA) train in Lac-Megantic.
