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Village evacuated after Quebec train derailment

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Here is an article that details some guidelines for setting hand brakes to hold a train: <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/insight-quebec-train-set-too-few-brakes-deadly-013726461.html">http://news.yahoo.com/insight-quebec-train-set-too-few-brakes-deadly-013726461.html</a> From the link:   HOW MANY HAND BRAKES ARE ENOUGH? MMA has said its handbrake policy was adopted from safety guidelines set by a much larger railroad, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. Canadian Pacific declined comment. Earlier this week, Burkhardt told Reuters he believed the MMA engineer had complied with company rules and standard rail industry practices in securing the train. On Wednesday, he told reporters the worker likely failed to set enough handbrakes, violated company policy, and was now suspended without pay. He did not detail what caused his revised views. An online copy of Canadian Pacific's General Operating Instructions said at least nine handbrakes must be set on a parked train of 70 to 79 cars, but additional brakes "may be required" if the train is parked on a grade. Rival railroad Canadian National provides more specific instructions, recommending that crews activate the handbrakes on 40 percent of all railcars when a train is idled on a 1-1.4 percent grade, according to a Transportation Safety Board report in April. If MMA's engineer had followed the 40 percent guidance, he would have had to activate about 29 brakes. "There's always some amount of judgment. It's a balancing act between what will hold the train and what is operationally feasible," said Rob Mangels, senior mechanical associate at R.L. Banks & Associates and a locomotive engineer and trainer. Mangels said handbraking 20 to 30 cars on a 72-car oil train would be typical. A longtime Canada-based locomotive engineer and brakeman, Doug Finnson, said he might activate handbrakes on 25 railcars before leaving a train of that length on a flat surface, or more brakes if it was on a decline. In the United States, freight train operators generally apply handbrakes on every fourth car, another expert said. Other experts questioned whether MMA's engineer took enough time to secure the train. According to investigators, the train pulled onto the tracks at Nantes around 11 p.m. local time. MMA said that the engineer had secured the train by 11:25 p.m. "That seems like a short period of time to secure the train," Colorado-based railroad consultant Robert Stout said, adding that to activate a brake, a worker must walk between the railcars, climb up a ladder and turn the brake wheel, sometimes up to forty times. MMA's Burkhardt said it may be impossible to verify how many handbrakes were set before the disaster, due to extensive damage to the rail cars. Police say 200 investigators are sifting through the charred wreckage.
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