In the days following the tragedy, while the whole of Quebec tries to understand what could have happened, the chronology of events remains confused and full of holes. Ten years later, several trials and reports, including that of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), make it possible to obtain an up-to-the-minute portrait of the sequence leading to the tragedy on the night of July 5 to 6. 2013.
1:55 p.m. The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA) freight train leaves Farnham, heading east, bound for Nantes. During the trip, locomotive engineer Thomas Harding reported that the lead locomotive was having mechanical trouble. The train, made up of 72 tank cars containing 7.7 million liters of crude oil and 5 locomotives, was idling.
10:50 p.m. Arrival of the train in Nantes, a neighboring village of Lac-Mégantic. Mr. Harding secures the train on the main track with the air brakes. He then applied seven hand brakes in all, as the train was stopped on a grade. He shut down the engines of four locomotives.
11:30 p.m. A taxi picks up the mechanic to take him to the hotel. The driver notices the smoke and droplets of oil coming from the still running locomotive.
11:40 p.m. A fire is reported on board the train in Nantes and the firefighters go to the scene. During their intervention, they cut the engine of the fifth and last locomotive still running.
12:13 a.m. The fire is under control.
12:44 a.m. The firefighters and the representatives of the MMA who have arrived on the scene in the meantime leave. Since the locomotive engines have been turned off, the air brakes are gradually losing their effectiveness.
In its report, the TSB will note that when the engine is shut down, “air is expected to escape from the systems”, but that the time that elapses before the air is completely evacuated from the brakes “varies enormously”.
00:56 The train sets off, without a driver on board. The 10,000-tonne convoy is dragged by gravity because of the drop and goes straight to downtown Lac-Mégantic.
1:14 a.m. The ghost train has been running for 18 minutes, getting faster and faster, to the point of soon reaching 100 kilometers per hour. Tank cars derailed, collided and caused several explosions. The rest of the convoy derailed a little further and the locomotives separated to continue their journey for 800 meters.
1:17 a.m. First call to 911 to report a fire. The alert is launched for a general evacuation. Firefighters from six neighboring municipalities are called in to help. All the hospital staff is also called in support, but there are few injuries.
1:29 a.m. The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) informs the Farnham train controller, Richard Labrie, that there have been explosions in Lac-Mégantic. This one asks if the fire is in this locality or in Nantes, because the train of the MMA should be in Nantes. The SQ asks Mr. Labrie if he is certain that the train is still in Nantes.
1:47 a.m. Tom Harding calls the train controller at Farnham, Mr. Labrie, to ask what types of cars are in the yard (storage). “Everything is on fire, from the church to the Metro [épicerie], from the river to the railroad tracks,” engineer Harding told his colleague Richard Labrie over the phone. The latter confirms to him that there are no hazardous materials immobilized.
During this conversation, when he asks if it was the MMA train that got off, Mr. Harding replies “no”.
Several other conversations ensued between the employees of the railway company to determine the cause of the fire.
2:39 The head guard Jean-Noël Busque goes to Nantes and confirms to Mr. Labrie that the train is no longer there.
3:29 a.m. It was Richard Labrie, in Farnham, where the train left, who told Thomas Harding that it was indeed his train that had run adrift. During the call, the recording of which was later made public, we hear him accusing the shock. ” holy fuck [Merde] “, we hear. He then says his train was secure: “It was secure when I left,” he repeats.
July 7 around 11 a.m. The fire is extinguished, more than 34 hours later. The cleaning operation begins. It is estimated that 100,000 liters of crude oil contaminated Lac Mégantic and the Chaudière River, both by direct flow and by infiltration.
July 19 The police announce that the official final toll is 47 dead, of which several people remain to be formally identified.