Safety board chair says more needs to be done five years after Lac Megantic

A runway train carrying 7.7 million litres of petroleum crude oil derailed and exploded in the heart of Lac-Megantic early in the morning of July 6, 2013. (Photo By Sûreté du Québec)

OTTAWA — The head of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada says much has been accomplished five years after the Lac-Megantic train derailment in which 47 people were killed, but more remains to be done.

Kathleen Fox, the board’s chair, said Wednesday that not enough attention has been paid to finding ways that would prevent uncontrolled movement of stationary trains.

A runway train carrying 7.7 million litres of petroleum crude oil derailed and exploded in the heart of Lac-Megantic early in the morning of July 6, 2013.

Fox also noted that new and more robust rail tanker cars to transport crude oil will not be obligatory until 2025. They are to replace the class 111 tanker cars that were involved in the Lac-Megantic derailment.

But, she says, railways have made significant progress in terms of implementing emergency response assistance plans and they have been conducting route planning and risk assessments whenever large amounts of oil are being moved.

Transport Canada has also strengthened its oversight regime for the railway industry by conducting more frequent and comprehensive audits of railways’ safety management systems and striving to ensure that each railway has completed its required corrective action.