Company at centre of Lac-Megantic disaster says train was tampered with

The death toll connected to a massive train explosion in the town of Lac-Megantic, Que., continues to grow, and holes in the narrative of what led to the disaster continue to be filled.

But authorities are still not entirely clear about how a 73-car train parked 11 kilometres from town managed to get loose and barrel into the populated area, before exploding and turning the lakeside community into a charred war zone.

For the company being faced with the toughest of questions, however, that narrative is very simple – it's someone else's fault. Ed Burkhardt, chairman of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, says he has no doubt someone tampered with the train before it broke free and began rolling toward town.

“We have evidence of this,” he told the Montreal Gazette. “But this is an item that needs further investigation. We need to talk to some people we believe to have knowledge of this.”

[ Related: 1,200 people being allowed to go home in Lac-Megantic ]

The Transportation Safety Board is currently conducting an investigation into what caused the massive accident, when the oil-laden train derail in the city centre. Fourteen investigators are on site gather data, including black boxes from the debris, and interviewing witnesses. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he will wait for the conclusion of the investigation before discussing what might have caused the crash.

But Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, despite releasing a statement on Sunday saying they had not been able to complete its own investigation, has it pretty much sussed out.

Burkhardt told the Gazette that the company had followed standard operating rules when it came to securing the train. He added he didn't think the train was tampered with maliciously, but something happened that compromised its braking system.

[ More Brew: Lac-Megantic train derailment is a stake in oil pipeline debate ]

The company previously said the train had been "shut down subsequent to the departure of the engineer," who had left one engine turned on to ensure the air brakes were engaged.

The affair began late Friday night, when the train loaded with a cache of crude oil was parked at the Nantes train yard. Somehow the train broke free and rolled some 11 kilometres into Lac-Megantic, reaching a reported speed of 90 kilometres per hour before derailing and exploding.

Reuters reports that fire crews had been called to the train before it rolled into town. A blaze had broken out in one of the parked locomotives. Nantes fire chief confirmed his crews switched off the locomotive to extinguish a fire in the motor.

Chief Patrick Lambert said they told Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway what they did and why they did it. If this is the act of tampering Burkhardt is referring to, his assertion, while technically accurate, holds little merit.

The firefighters knew the importance of dousing a fire in the motor. The company knew the importance of keeping those air brakes engaged.

Perhaps even more can be gleaned from this Toronto Star story, which recounts how the single engineer associated with the doomed train checked into a hotel and didn’t wake up until after the explosion, at which time he did impressive work clearing train cars from the scene of the disaster.

Still, one guy? Working a train filled with crude oil, with an apparently questionable braking system?

Lessons are to be learned from this one. Perhaps we should wait for the results of that Transportation Safety Board investigation, after all.

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