Ottawa added to class-action lawsuit from fatal Lac-Megantic train crash

Survivors of a devastating train crash that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Que., last summer are suing the Canadian government for allegedly overlooking a series of brake violations against the transport company behind the crash.

A class action lawsuit on behalf of Lac-Megantic survivors and the loved ones of those who were killed has been expanded to include the Attorney General of Canada alongside Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, the company president Edward Burkhardt, the train operator and dozens of others.

The lawsuit stems from an explosion that rocked downtown Lac-Megantic on July 6, after a 72-car train carrying gas rolled from a depot where it had been parked overnight and crashed into the town. Following the disaster, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic filed for bankruptcy and the company was put up for auction.

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The class-action lawsuit was originally launched in November with Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway as the focus. The Canadian Press reports the Attorney General of Canada was added to the list in an amendment submitted Wednesday.

The class-action lawsuit now lists 52 groups among the defendants and "seeks recovery for damages sustained by those who have lost loved ones in the explosion and on behalf of persons injured."

According to the complaint, the Attorney General is responsible for delegating regulatory powers to the Canadian Transport Agency and Transport Canada, which did not effectively sanction the rail company for its history of repeated violations.

Following the July crash, it came to light that Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway was found to have violated safety rules about security trains several times in 2004, 2009, 2011 and 2012.

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The amended lawsuit alleges, according to the Montreal Gazette, that Montreal, Maine & Atlantic "has been involved in at least 129 accidents since 2003 in Canada alone, including 14 main track derailments, making it the most unsafe railway operator in North America."

It goes on to claim that the railway was prohibited from carrying any dangerous goods at the time of the Lac-Megantic explosion and that Transport Canada "nonetheless permitted the almost daily transport of the highly combustible and volatile Bakken Shale Liquids on it in contravention of its obligations."

The Lac-Megantic disaster, still under investigation, seemed to be a singular tragic event in Canada’s history. But as details emerged about the company’s history, a growing sense of retroactive foreboding also emerged.

None of the lawsuit’s allegations have been proven in court, and the government will surely have a spirited defence in the days to come. But little of the community’s initial anger has dissipated and as the rail company fades from existence, that anger inevitably finds a new focus.

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