Saturday, May 17, 2014

The oil must flow


And the proud new owners of the Central Maine & Quebec Railway, formerly the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic of Lac Megantic fame say they will be shipping oil again.
The Wall Street firm that owns the railroad through Lac-Megantic, Quebec, is making plans to ship crude oil again through the lakside town devastated last summer by a fiery train derailment.

John Giles, the CEO of the newly created Central Maine & Quebec Railway, told the Associated Press on Friday that the company plans to spend $10 million upgrading the tracks during the next two years and hopes to resume crude oil shipments within 18 months.

“We have chosen not to handle crude oil and dangerous goods through the city until we’ve got the railroad infrastructure improved, and made more reliable,” Giles told the AP.

On July 6, 2013, 47 people were killed and much of the town’s center was destroyed when a 72-car train loaded with crude oil ran away unattended and derailed, igniting a massive inferno.

The rail carrier operating the train, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic, filed for bankruptcy after the derailment. In December, Fortress Investment Group, a New York buyout firm, bought the railroad’s assets in an auction for about $15 million.

The crude oil in the derailed train originated in North Dakota’s booming Bakken shale region and was heading to a refinery in New Brunswick.
The won't do it until they have upgraded their trackage and such, which I am sure will reassure all the remaining residents of that poor town. And the big swinging dicks of Wall St will continue to prosper.

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