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[quote user="tdmidget"]The engineer had the responsibility of securing his train. That is what he should have done. He should have done it correctly and completely and then report to his dispatcher that it had been done. He was the captain of that ship. He should not have called and asked permission to do his job. Unless the brakes on the cars were released by someone, the engineer is at fault. You can't pass the buck to Burkhardt, a dispatcher, or anyone else.[/quote] tdmidget, I disagree with your assertion that the engineer is at the top of the chain of command.  Nobody has said that the engineer did not know what to do, and that he asked the dispatcher what to do; as you say.  What has been reported is that one or more people with higher authority than the engineer ordered the engineer (against his better judgment) to leave the defective engine running, which jeopardized the health and safety of people nearby.  So the engineer clearly was not the “captain of the ship” as you contend.  You say that the engineer had the responsibility to secure his train.  Yet that responsibility is meaningless without a rule defining what “secure” means.  It is the responsibility of the MM&A to provide that rule.  So, the actions of the engineer are not the only component of making sure the train stayed put.  The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has said that they will look into the MM&A train securement special instructions and procedures to see if they played a role in the disaster.  They also said that it would be unusual for the responsibility of such a large disaster to fall only on the actions of one person.  So they have no preconceived notions about the engineer being the captain of a ship.
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