Thus, despite all these investigations and these trials, we have not really found who are really responsible for the rail disaster that occurred in Mégantic. So, how about a comparison?
What would happen, do you think, to an oil delivery man irresponsible enough to leave his truck running, unlocked, at the top of a hill, loaded with eight tons of oil, to go to sleep eight kilometers away? ? If a disaster happened, he would surely be condemned for criminal negligence. This is exactly what the train driver did with an 8000 ton oil train. Why did he do such a thing? Because he had no choice.
Indeed, its bosses had obtained from the Department of Transport of Canada to operate in this way according to the sacrosanct principle of self-regulation. What’s the point of paying taxes and inspectors and having, over time, written a whole library of regulations that remain in oblivion? By giving this permission to operate, we could have at least demanded the installation of one of those little $1,000 derailleurs that we flip over on a rail, with a padlock, to ensure a minimum of security. . But no, as always, our federal pontiffs have neither the habit nor the need for a minimum of reflection that a sense of responsibility normally brings.
As for this project to bypass the town of Lac-Mégantic, this is a solution that will in no way solve the problem of hundreds of other towns that have quite naturally developed from their station. We could regret it the day when passenger train travel resumes.
To see in video