what could possibly go wrong?

Yes, I know that it is the cheapest way of moving anything...but, let me guess wildly...they were all in series with each other.

LAC MEGANTIC, Que. - A large swath of a Quebec town was demolished on Saturday after a train derailment sparked several explosions and a blaze that sent spectacular flames shooting metres into the sky.

Up to 1,000 people were forced from their homes in Lac-Megantic, about 250 kilometres east of Montreal.

Some people were reported missing, although Quebec provincial police Lt. Michel Brunet said it was too early to say if there were casualties.

Flames and billowing smoke could be seen several hours after the derailment, which involved a 73-car train carrying crude oil.

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http://www.theprovince.com/news/Train+derailment+sparks+major+fire+LacMegantic+Quebec/8625239/story.html

Lac Megantic is a lovely town on a beautiful lake in the lovely Eastern Townships

Lac-Mégantic (town) is a town in Estrie (Quebec, Canada) on Lac Mégantic, a freshwater lake for which the town was named. Situated in the former Frontenac County in the historic Eastern Townships, Lac-Mégantic is the seat of Le Granit Regional County Municipality and of the judicial district of Mégantic.[4]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-M%C3%A9gantic,_Quebec

A train carrying petrochemicals has exploded in a Canadian town, forcing the evacuation of up to 1,000 people.

The blast sent a fireball and black smoke into the air, destroying dozens of buildings in Lac-Megantic, some 155 miles (250 km) east of Montreal.

The train derailed early on Saturday; emergency services who worked through the night said they could not tell if there were any casualties.

Firefighters from across the border in the US are helping tackle the blaze.

"When you see the centre of your town almost destroyed, you'll understand that we're asking ourselves how we are going to get through this event," an emotional Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche told a televised news briefing.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23212541

Furthemore, there was spill into the Chaudiere River.

By the destructiveness of the explosions, it was probably refined product of some kind. But it is too early to say.

Lac-Megantic train derailment: videos, photos from the scene

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/lac-megantic-train-derailment-videos-photos-from-the-scene-1.1356274

I hope there were no fatalities.

Several people were missing after four tank cars of petroleum products exploded in the middle of a small town in the Canadian province of Quebec early on Saturday in a fiery blast that destroyed dozens of buildings.

The disaster occurred shortly after 1 a.m. (0500 GMT) when a freight train derailed in Lac-Megantic, a picturesque lakeside town of about 6,000 people near the border with Maine. Although police said they could not yet get close enough to determine whether there were any casualties from the still-burning fires, an aerial photograph showed widespread devastation in the town center.


French-language broadcaster Radio-Canada said one building at the center of town was a bar popular with young people. An eyewitness told the broadcaster the town center had been crowded at the time of the derailment.

"Many parents are worried because they haven't been able to communicate with a member of their family or an acquaintance," Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche told the channel.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/06/us-train-idUSBRE96505L20130706

It looks like such a picturesque town. Sympathies and courage to them.

Is it too early to ask why rail cars full of petro-chemicals are permitted to run through the middle of their town? No, don't tell me -- I expect this happens all over.

Before the railroad was built in the 19th century, it did not exist.

I just don't understand allowing such hazardous materials to be transported that way, in such volume, through town. A truck full of petroleum is one thing, but 73 freight cars full...through the middle of towns...that's insane.

pipeline.

If I was on my pc I'd ask "like this?" and insert a few photos of those clean, beautiful, notatalldangerous pipelines ruptured all over no longer so clean, nor so beautiful neighborhoods and wilderness, and the effects on humans and wildlife. But you know what I mean.

This is just 90 miles up the road from home, which in that area is next door. Thoughts are with the citizens of Lac Megantic, as well as the first responders from both sides of the border.

it's really a lovely town. or rather it was.

My thoughts are with them as well.

You're not in Strong, ME are you?

I'm in the Kingdom in Vermont.

I never really traveled over the border much, but I guess there's a highway going towards Sherbrooke as well. Bonus points for hearing of Strong.

As trains start to carry crude oil across Maine, environmentalists start to worry

The modern-day oil boom in the western U.S. and Canada is fueling interest in shipping crude oil by rail across Maine to a refinery in the Maritimes.

But the prospect of long trains of oil-filled tanker cars rumbling through Maine also has state environmental officials concerned, particularly in the wake of a recent derailment that sent several tanker cars of nonhazardous materials tumbling into the Penobscot River. As a result, state officials are reviewing their spill response strategies and making other preparations.

“It definitely got my attention with 104 rail cars of crude coming through the state,” Barbara Parker, head of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s hazardous materials response team, said in reference to a recent oil shipment.

Pan Am Railways and Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railways are both exploring the feasibility of moving vast amounts of crude to an Irving Oil refinery in St. John, New Brunswick. Pan Am’s rail network was used to successfully deliver the first shipment of 100-plus tanker cars in late May, and MMA reportedly plans to follow suit soon.

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http://bangordailynews.com/2012/06/10/business/state-reviewing-spill-response-strategies-as-railroads-look-to-haul-crude-oil-through-maine/

That train was on its way to Portland, Maine

Shared to FB.

Is rail-bound crude oil a disaster waiting to happen?

The U.S. shale oil and gas boom has brought business to railroads still reeling from declining coal shipments. But as freight operators such as Warren Buffett's Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC (BNSF) breathe a sigh of relief, some are feeling uneasy about oil companies' rush to the train tracks.

"The Northeast has old, dilapidated infrastructure. We have neglected it for decades, and now, all of a sudden, there's this renaissance of railroads coming back with oil," said Fadel Gheit, managing director and senior analyst covering the oil and gas sector at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. "When you increase the traffic, you increase the chances of accidents."

A slew of train derailments is raising questions about how safe and reliable oil trains are until aging tracks along the East Coast are upgraded. The latest train wreck happened shortly after 2 p.m. on Tuesday outside of Baltimore, when a CSX Corp. freight train hauling chemicals hit a truck and derailed, caught fire and sent a ball of flame into the air. The explosion blew a hole in a nearby industrial building. Last year, a coal train jumped the tracks in Ellicott City, Md., and killed two women.

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Oil-by-rail surge

A record 97,135 carloads of crude oil were shipped across the United States in the first quarter this year, the AAR reported yesterday. That's a 166 percent increase over the 36,544 carloads originated over the same period in 2012.

Much of the growth is concentrated in the U.S. Northeast, where refineries lining the corridor from the Delaware River to New York Harbor have displaced imports with railed-in domestic crude. East Coast refineries, including Phillips 66's Bayway facility in New Jersey, have limited access to pipeline infrastructure and barge in the majority of their oil. In January, Phillips 66 announced a five-year deal with energy supplier Global Partners LP to rail in about 50,000 barrels per day of Bakken crude on a take-or-pay basis to lessen dependence on foreign Brent oil.

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http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059982047

I was going to mention it earlier but thought it probably wasn't the place. This is part of the problem that has been happening - there is increased demand and fewer pipelines being built. So, oil companies aren't just going to NOT sell their oil - they will just use rail instead which is actually quite a bit more dangerous for people and the environment than pipelines are.

There's no easy answer except it's absolutely imperative that we reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Spills and explosions will become the new normal unless we quickly implement new infrastructure using other ways of generating energy. We can no longer maintain this way of life.