A Canadian National (CN) Rail freight train carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire Tuesday night near the northwest New Brunswick town of Plaster Rock. No injuries have been reported.

The Transportation Safety Board ((TSB) reports that 17 cars are believed to have derailed, eight carrying dangerous goods and one a locomotive.  According to CN Rail President and CEO Claude Monganu five of the derailed cars were carrying crude oil, and the other four propane.

The 122-car train was heading to the Irving Oil Refinery in St. John from central Canada. The derailment occurred just after 7 pm about five km from Plaster Rock, in Wapske.

Dan Holbrook with the TSB told the CBC the incident was cause by a mechanical failure affecting the train's breaking system. A ruptured airline connecting the cars caused an emergency break application, he said. 

"Trains have a continuous pipe running throughout the train that supplies air to the brake system on every car," he said.

"If that brake pipe comes apart, that causes the brakes throughout the train to go into emergency…and that means the train will stop as fast as it can."

The incident comes just over a week after an accident in North Dakota caused several oil train cars to burst into flames and explode. The North Dakota accident is just one among many high-profile oil train accidents to occur within the last six months, including Lac-Mégantic where 47 people perished as the result of a tanker train derailment.

The TSB has deployed a team of investigators to the scene, where the fires still burn. The site is under the control of authorities with the local fire department.

Premier David Alward attended a news conference this morning to express gratitude there were no injuries and said there appeard to be no serious impact to the environment. 

"Every day we have the movement of goods and services across our country by many different modes of transportation," said Alward. "Every mode of transportation is not without risk.

"What is important to realize is how we are able to respond to situations when they happen really determines how we are able to manage as we go forward."

The TSB will further investigate the site when they determine it is safe to do so.

"The team will evaluate the accident and document the derailment site, inspect the equipment and track infrastructure and identify any items that may require closer inspection. They will examine the maintenance history of the train, operation of the equipment and operation policies, meteorological conditions, and review any human factors," states a TSB press release.

First responders were forced to stay a safe distance from the fire, which was large enough to be seen from a "significant" distance away, reports CBC. A 2km radius including 45 households has been evacuated, said Feeny, director of public and government affairs for CN Rail.

Plaster Rock mayor Alexis Fenner reportedly said all roads were blocked and shut down by the police after the derailment.

"On our balcony, we can just see flames. Every now and then, there's a huge fireball, as if there was an explosion," Plaster Rock resident Carol Jervis told Global News.

Another resident said her husband went to the area and "could see flames shooting in the air from quite far away. He could see it very clearly. It was about 50 to 60 feet he told me he could see."

J.D. Saddler, a resident of Wapske, told CBC that he was driving back there from Plaster Rock when the derailment occurred, and he saw "a great big cloud of orange smoke and the flames were really high in the air, the smoke was really high in the air."

At the time, there was no given time frame for when crews could move in. Feeny said CN Rail senior managers and hazardous materials experts were en route from Moncton, Montreal and Toronto.

An evacuation centre was set up at Plaster Rock, with the Canadian Red Cross dispatching volunteers with supplies to assist local authorities at the centre. Bill Lawlor, Canadian Red Cross director of disaster management for New Brunswick, said that this was a precautionary measure, as the area is sparsely populated and the small numbers impacted by the evacuation would probably stay with friends or family.

Lawlor added that the volunteers were ready with blankets and cots should any residents require shelter, or if circumstances should change.

According to the CBC, another derailment that occurred at Plaster Rock was one of two incidents that led the TSB to issue a summons in 2006, requiring CN Rail to turn in all its records.

The CBC's investigation discovered that CN Rail did not report more than 1,800 derailments and accidents over a six-year period, including 44 derailments and one collision on "key arterial rail tracks."

The derailment comes days after a joint task force announced by BC and Alberta premiers Christy Clark and Alison Redford handed in a report exploring the feasibility of transporting oil by rail as a backup in case pipeline projects fall through.

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A decision on the proposed northern half of the Keystone XL pipeline – under review since 2008 – hinges on a final environmental review by the State Department now taking into consideration the importance oil-by-rail transport might have on growth of Alberta's tar sands.

US officials are evaluating the impact Keystone XL will have on expansion of the tar sands and whether or not the pipeline will worsen climate change. According to a new report by Reuters the evaluation has created a balancing test, “zeroing in on the question of whether shipment by rail is a viable alternative to the controversial project.”

The test's crux: “if there is enough evidence that the oil sands region will quickly grow with or without the 1,200-mile line, that would undercut an argument from environmentalists that the pipeline would turbocharge expansion,” Reuters reports.

President Barack Obama's State Department is asking rail executives to report on logistics, market dynamics and what obstacles oil-by-rail alternatives face in delivering 830,000 barrels of Canadian oil to Cushing, Oklahoma – the "pipeline crossroads of the world" – where Keystone XL's northern half will link up with Keystone XL's southern half which is expected to be up and running by the end of October.

In other words, could rail realistically provide an alternative to the Keystone XL, aiding in the expansion of Canada's highly-polluting tar sands?

With numerous pipeline proposals facing opposition all across Canada and the US, oil-by-rail transport alternatives have picked up some slack. But the high costs associated with rail and the dangers associated with oil-by-rail transport suggest there are real limitations to a full scale tar sands-by-rail revolution.

As Reuters reports, even rail operators admit tanker trains can supplement but not substitute the movement of crude by pipeline.

“We can move large volumes, but it will always be a niche service,” Gary Kubera, owner of Caneuxs, a company expected to move 100,000 [barrels per day] by the end of 2014, told Reuters.

Stew Hanlon, president of Gibson Energy Inc., echoed the sentiment: “We remain very, very confident that rail is here to stay not as a replacement for pipelines, but as a supplement of pipelines.”

Within Canada the oil-by-rail sector has grown tremendously, with five new loading terminals in western Canada and an estimated national transport capacity of 450,000 bpd by next year.

North American Class 1 railways.

Life on the Rails?

Yet the rapid increase in rail transport of crude has led to a series of high-profile accidents in Canada, the most publicized being the Lac-Megantic disaster that saw 47 people incinerated in a small Quebec town after an unmanned tanker train derailed and crashed in a residential area. Fires from the accident burned for more than two days.

Just 10 days ago, another tanker train carrying propane and oil derailed outside of Edmonton, Alberta causing an explosion and the evacuation of a small community.

In September a Canada Pacific Railway train carrying oil products derailed in Calgary leading to an evacuation. In July another Canada Pacific Railway train carrying petroleum products slumped over a river after flooding caused a rail bridge to partially collapse.

Yet another Canada Pacific Railway train full of tanker cars carrying oil derailed in Saskatchewan leaking 575 barrels of oil on May 5. The company also had a derailment in Ontario that saw 400 barrels of oil spill, as well as a derailment in March in Minnesota that spilled 24 barrels of oil after 14 cars went off the tracks.

In 2008 trains carried less than 20,000 barrels of oil per day. They now carry roughly 500,000 barrels of oil per day, as of the end of 2012.

According to the State Department, trains have a death rate 3 times higher than pipelines and have a fire and explosion rate 9 times that of pipelines when carrying liquids.

Although groups are quick to point out pipeline disasters happen with less regularity they are often of high-consequence, such as the Enbridge Kalamazoo disaster in 2010 that leaked 20,082 barrels of oil into Michigan waterways. That spill has so far cost more than $1 billion, making it the most expensive onshore oil spill in US history.

Rail Costs Nearly Double Pipelines

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, high costs associated with oil-by-rail transport might pose the largest challenge to operators hoping to gain a larger share of the market. It costs roughly $10 to transport a barrel of oil in a pipeline while the same will cost about $17 via rail.

The industry also has a shortage of terminals capable of refining heavy crude, such as tar sands bitumen from Canada.

The high costs, lagging infrastructure, and dangers associated with rail make the industry an unlikely alternative to the Keystone XL, meaning tar sands transport is unlikely to meet industry expectations should the pipeline be turned down.

For oil producers operating in the tar sands, this inevitably means a shipping glut.

A Risky Investment

Increased oil production in the US has also contributed to dwindling prices for Canadian producers. In June the research firm Wood Mackenzie warned that falling oil prices would lead to break-even points for Canadian energy companies developing one of the costliest forms of oil in the world.

The tar sands are Canada’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gasses and have some investors concerned that the globe’s urgent need to reduce carbon pollution in the atmosphere might diminish the resource’s value.

Just last week a coalition of investors worth $3 trillion pressured 45 of the biggest oil and gas companies to deal with the real concern of "stranded assets," carbon pools that cannot be developed due to the threat of climate change.

A decision on Keystone XL's northern half is due in early 2014. President Obama – who approved the southern half via a March 2012 Executive Order – has indicated he will not approve the northern segment if found to significantly contribute to carbon pollution.

Given the access the pipeline will grant tar sands oil to overseas markets and the advantage pipelines have over rail, the Keystone XL will undoubtedly support tar sands production, promote continued tar sands investment, and contribute to Canada’s already-significant greenhouse gas output.

So, if the decision really comes down to the pipeline's climate impact – and not something else – the choice is clear.

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A Canadian National (CN) tanker train carrying liquefied petroleum gas and crude oil derailed early Saturday in the community of Gainford, Alberta, about 80 km from Edmonton. The derailment caused a massive explosion and started a fire, prompting the evacuation of about 100 people from the community.

CBC News reports that "13 cars — four carrying petroleum crude oil and nine pressurized containers carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) — left the tracks along Highway 16 and Range Road 61" at around 1 am Saturday, according to the Transportation Safety Board.

Parkland County spokesman Carson Mills said that there was a "significant explosion" at the time of the derailment, followed by a "smaller one." No injuries have been reported.

CN spokesman Louis-Antoine Paquin said three of the tanker cars, all containing liquid petroleum gas, were on fire and leaking, reports the Guardian. The community, and all residences within 1.6 km of the derailment, were evacuated in case of another explosion.

"It's still a risky situation so we need to contain as much as possible and keep people far away," said Mills. Parkland County has declared a state of emergency for the area surrounding Gainford. Residents have been told to keep out of the evacuation zone until further notice.

Jim Phelan, Parkland County fire chief, said they were "better off to allow [the fire] to vent and burn," adding that it was "unsafe to start fire-suppression activities," reports the Calgary Herald. Phelan told the news conference that residents saw a "large fireball" at the time of the derailment, and said that the cause of the explosion is "yet to be determined."

CBC reports that "55 Evansburg RCMP officers and emergency personnel are on hand and are working with CN and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada to manage the situation," as well as fire crews from Parkland County and Yellowhead County, and a HAZMAT team from Edmonton.

Alberta Environment spokeswoman Robyn Cochrane said it was too early to assess the damage done by the derailment. "We just won't know the extent, from an environmental point of view, until it's all said and done," Cochrane said. "We'll work with the company on containment and then also remediation."  

Parkland County Mayor Rod Shaigec said that "this could have been worse, given the recent incident in Lac-Mégantic — that certainly does illustrate the threats to residents living along rail tracks. So we're thankful it wasn't of that magnitude."

The July 6 derailment of a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Company tanker train carrying crude oil in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, caused 47 deaths, with about 5.5 million litres of oil burned or contaminating the environment. The tragic incident has put the increasing transport of crude by rail in North America under close scrutiny.

On October 16, just three days before the Gainford derailment, another CN train carrying fertilizer derailed near Sexsmith, Alberta, causing an evacuation of the town.

Greenpeace has spoken out against the Harper government for putting the needs of the oil industry over the safety of Canadians.

"This kind of disaster will become the new normal unless the federal government takes much more effective measures to improve oil transportation safety," said Greenpeace spokesman Mike Hudema.

"The truth is that the Harper government has become such a cheerleader for the petroleum industry that it is failing in its duty to protect our communities and the environment," said Hudema. "This is the third major derailment in Alberta in the last few months. How many more will it take before Ottawa implements transportation safety regulations that were recommended more than a decade ago?"

Documents obtained by Greenpeace recently revealed that CN and Natural Resources Canada were considering a plan last March to move oil by rail from Alberta to BC for export to overseas markets, in capacities matching that proposed for the Northern Gateway pipeline.

The train that derailed in Gainford was travelling from Edmonton to Vancouver, BC, said CN spokesman Paquin.

Whether the Harper government continues to push for the transport of oil by rail despite the numerous safety concerns and growing number of derailments remains to be seen.

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The death toll from the tragic Lac-Mégantic train derailment has risen to 15* following the recovery of more bodies from the rubble left by exploding oil tankers cars, which levelled more than 30 buildings in the centre of the small Quebec town early Saturday.

CBC News reports that "a criminal investigation is now underway as officers continue to comb through the rubble and search for some 40 people who are missing," according to Quebec provincial police Inspector Michel Forget.

Forget said "terrorism" was unlikely to be the cause of the derailment and the explosions. He didn't elaborate on the causes of the criminal probe, but said that investigators had "discovered elements" that warranted it, with "criminal negligence" being "one possible charge among many that are being considered as the investigation unfolds."

Investigators have also revealed that firefighters were called in Friday night to deal with an incident at the train in Nantes, the town where the train was parked, about 12 km from Lac-Mégantic. The train rolled downhill and exploded in Lac-Mégantic after the firefighters and an employee from the rail company left.

Nantes fire chief Patrick Lambert "said his crew received the company's blessing to leave the scene," reports CBC. Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, however, countered with the accusation that "the fire crew should have alerted the engineer who by that point had gone home to sleep for the night."

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is also investigating the derailment, and has questioned the safety of the general purpose tanker cars used to transport flammable materials like crude oil. The TSB does not assign criminal charges, but will investigate the cause of the derailment and identify "safety deficiencies."

CBC reports that Don Ross, the TSB's lead investigator at Lac-Mégantic, also showed concern at the lack of precautionary technology on the stretch of track that might have prevented an incident like this.

"This area is not equipped with the type of signal systems that would even show to a rail traffic controller that something was moving on the territory that they hadn't authorized," Ross said at a news conference yesterday.

Another TSB investigator, Ed Belkaloul, is said to have observed that "the type of train car involved in the crash, was identified as a concern by safety officials following a 1995 train derailment in Gouin, Que., that resulted in a sulphuric acid leak into a lake and the Tawachiche River."

After the 1995 derailment, the TSB warned in their report that "the carriage of certain dangerous goods in such cars might be putting persons and the immediate environment at risk in the event of an accident."

The fallout from the tanker car explosions also includes crude oil from the train leaking into surrounding waterways via the Chaudière river. About 80 km downriver from Lac-Mégantic, the community of Saint-Georges is having to draw water from a nearby lake instead of the river, which is their usual source, because of fears "that the water is contaminated with hydrocarbons," according to a separate article from CBC.

Ross added that the TSB has had "a long record of advocating to further improvements" to the "general service" cars "because they're a very common type of tank car and take a lot of very large volumes of petroleum products, like in this case, and you can see the damage that was caused here." He said that the investigation would "establish whether everything that was done here had met the requirements."

Stephen Guilbeault, head of environmental group Equiterre, told CBC that "a wave of deregulation" has allowed companies like Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway to get away with using outdated train cars, with "the federal government…very complicit in letting companies dictate the rules of the games."

Dean Beeby of the Canadian Press wrote last year that a February 2012 briefing note to Prime Minister Stephen Harper from the clerk of the Privy Council, on the potential of rail transport of crude oil, observed "that Transport Canada officials have confirmed there are no regulatory hurdles for transporting crude by rail."

Emile Therien, former president of the Canada Safety Council, who criticized rail safety regulations in 2007, clarified in a piece for the Ottawa Citizen that "Transport Canada, with overall responsibility for railway safety, conducts audits of how a railway company maintains its safety-management systems. It does not engage in the inspection of tracks and switches." Day-to-day safety regulation is left to rail companies.

Therien did also observe that "train accidents in this country have decreased by 23 per cent" since 2007, and said that Canada's rail safety in general is "improving."   

Meanwhile, in Lac-Mégantic, 1,200 of the 2,000 evacuated residents have been let back into the town, though around 800 residents are still being kept away because of work going on in the cordoned-off "red zone." The air quality in the area has been tested and confirmed to be safe, but returning residents have been advised to "open windows and ventilate their homes."

CBC says that locals "have been quick to single out [Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway] company with complaints about its lack of visibility, its safety standards." Edward Burkhardt, head of the company hasn't visited the town yet, though he's scheduled to appear today.

Burkhardt told CBC that there's "a lot of anger" from Lac-Mégantic being directed at him, and said he hopes that he's "not going to get shot."

*As of Friday, July 12, 2013, the death toll has risen to 28.

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The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) has released harrowing photos of the train derailment disaster in the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, where firefighters and emergency response personnel are still working to recover bodies, contain the release of oil in the Chaudière River, and prevent remaining oil-filled tankers from overheating and exploding. A freight train transporting light crude oil derailed early Saturday, causing massive explosions and a major fire in a small town 250 kilometres east of Montreal, with five reported dead and up to 40 missing so far.

Over 2,000 people have been evacuated, of the 6,000 person community, and a 1-kilometre wide security perimeter set up in the town.

Three bodies were found overnight in the centre of the town, which was levelled by the exploding tankers. Quebec provincial police confirmed that two more bodies were found in the morning, bringing the death toll up to five, according to the CBC. Hazardous conditions have reportedly hindered the search.

The train had been stopped in a siding about 12 kilometres east of the town for a routine shift change. Around 1 am ET on Saturday, its 73 cars containing pressurized oil containers rolled free from the engine, for reasons unknown. The cause of the derailment is under investigation.

The TSB released several images of the scene, showing the scale of this disaster in an otherwise peaceful town.

Andy Blatchford writes for the Globe and Mail, that the "train's brakes and safety system were functional when the conductor left, according to Montreal Maine & Atlantic. Company spokesman Christophe Journet confirmed." A six-person team from the Transport Safety Board has been dispatched to look into the matter.

BBC News reports that, according to eyewitnesses, "by the time the driverless train reached the town it was travelling at considerable speed." The train then derailed in the centre of the town. According to a spokesperson from the Quebec environment ministry, at least four of the cars exploded, destroying dozens of homes and businesses in the area.

Blatchford writes that the "area surrounding the explosion site was a popular place in the evenings, and witnesses said the bars and restaurants were bustling with people when the first explosion hit."

"It's terrible…The Metro store, Dollarama, everything that was there is gone," said resident Claude Bédard.

"When you see the centre of your town almost destroyed, you'll understand that we're asking ourselves how we are going to get through this event," Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche said, visibly emotional during a televised news briefing.

TSB locomotive event recorder.

TSB authorities examine the locomotive from which the derailed tanker cars detached.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those affected by this morning's tragic train derailment," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a statement, adding that "our government is monitoring the situation and we stand by ready to provide any assistance requested by the province."

Over 150 firefighters, some from the United States, have been working since early Saturday morning to combat the fire, which affected some 30 buildings according to authorities. The fire has been "contained," according to the CBC, but is still burning. Two of the five tankers that exploded are still on fire and "at risk of explosion."

The derailment also caused a "large but as-yet-undetermined amount" of crude oil to spill into the Chaudière River. According to some residents, the water has "turned an orange color." The oil is reportedly at risk of reaching the Saint Lawrence if not contained.  

According to the BBC, the crude oil was being transported from the Bakken Field in North Dakota. The rail transport of crude oil in both Canada and the US has increased dramatically in recent years. Shipments of Bakken shale oil are expected to surpass 800,000 barrels per day this year, representing a 10-fold increase since 2011. The Railway Association of Canada recently announced Canada would carry 130,000 to 140,000 carloads of crude oil this year – up from just 500 in 2009. 

Environment Quebec spokesman Christian Blanchette said that the "spill on the lake and the river…is concerning," and added that they had "advised the local municipalities downstream to be careful if they take their water from the Chaudière River," reports Blatchford.

Mr. Blanchette also said that "we have a mobile laboratory here to monitor the quality of the air." Over 2,000 people were evacuated from Lac-Mégantic on Saturday because Environment Quebec "has warned of toxic chemicals in the air due to the explosions," in addition to the risk of more explosions.

Many of the evacuated stayed with family and friends. 163 reportedly stayed at an emergency shelter set up at a local school, while another 550 registered with Red Cross so they could be accounted for.

A Facebook group has been set up to help people track down missing persons.

The Lac-Mégantic tragedy comes after the recent derailment of a train carrying diluent over a Calgary bridge, as well as a Saskatchewan crude oil spill caused by a derailed CP train.

• To report missing people: 819-832-4953 #6005
• For other information: 819-583-2441
• Donations to the Red Cross: 1-800-418-1111

Image Credit: Transportation Safety Board via flickr

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