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Village evacuated after Quebec train derailment

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[quote user="Falcon48"]However, based on prior experiences I've had, I have absolutely no confidence in the ability of the media to get a story like this straight, and I rather suspect that the actual cause of this accident will prove to be somewhat different than what the media has been reporting. We shall see.[/quote] Well, I don’t know if the media has the story screwed up.  They are quoting Burkhardt in the article I linked on the previous page.  It is here: <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/firefighters-cut-power-to-runaway-trains-brakes-20130709-2pn1q.html">http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/firefighters-cut-power-to-runaway-trains-brakes-20130709-2pn1q.html</a> If he did not mean to say what they are saying that he said, he had better get it corrected fast.  But as it stands in the article, he is on record for the following statements: 1)      He dismisses the responsibility to set hand brakes to the extent that they could hold the train from rolling away.  2)      He blames the fire department for shutting down the burning locomotive.  3)      He blames the fire department for not notifying the MM&A Ry. when they did actually notify the railroad company.   Quotes from the link: Air brakes that would have prevented the disaster failed because they were powered by an engine that was shut down by firefighters as they dealt with a fire shortly before the calamity occurred, the head of the railway [Mr. Brukhardt] that operated the train said. The problem was that the engine had been left on by the train's engineer to maintain pressure in the air brakes, Ed Burkhardt, chairman of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA), said in an interview. As the pressure gradually "leaked off", the air brakes failed and the train began to slide downhill, he said. Burkhardt said that after the pressure leaked out of the airbrakes, the handbrakes would not have been strong enough to keep the train in place. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I agree that there is a fog of war about this event.  And I think Mr. Brukhardt is  indeed rattled about the disaster.  He probably should not say anything until they get their information collected and sorted out.  But he is probably under a lot of pressure from the public to explain what happened, so he speaks out before he should.
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