ARS Canada Rolling Stock Hiring

ARS Canada Rolling Stock acquired the assets of the former Industrial Rail Services / IRSI in Moncton back in October 2015, and they are now hiring. They intend to create 200 jobs in their first phase, according to ARS' CEO Arturo Contreras (CBC article).

They intend to produce 1,500 cars in their first year of production, an ambitious target. They intend to produce grain hoppers and tank cars.

Rail Cars

Canada's grain hopper fleet (the "Trudeau hoppers") is aging and many will need to be replaced in the next 10-15 years. ARS Canada intends to be in that market.

ARS Canada grain hopper drawing

Another market they are aiming for is the pending obsolescence of the DOT-111 tank cars. These cars, made notorious by the Lac-Megantic rail disaster, will no longer be allowed to carry crude oil in Canada after November 1. Tank car owners will need new TC-117 tank cars and ARS Canada has plans to be in that market too.

ARS Canada TC-117 tank car drawing

The Chinese Connection

ARS is reported to be a partnership between CRRC Meshan Inc. (a Chinese company also known as China Southern Railway or CSR) and CNR (China Northern Railway).

CRRC is the largest freight car manufacturer in the world, and is currently building 284 cars for Boston's subway.

I'm wondering if ARS will be using or adapting Chinese designs for its freight cars. This would lead to some unique new looks for Canadian railways!

IRSI, Reborn?

IRSI, 2003

They will be based in the former IRSI facility located at 299 Humpyard Road in Moncton. After IRSI went into receivership in April 2012, the facility dwindled and eventually closed.

ARS will have the main building, the former CN diesel shop, 125,000 square feet with 18 service bays, as well as the machine shop, paint shop and more.

I imagine many former IRSI employees will be applying for the open positions, so it may end up being IRSI 2.0.

Government Support?

There has been no announcement yet from the province, but I imagine there has been some subsidies and/or loan guarantees promised by the NB government. The government lost $20 million from loans and loan guarantees to IRSI, so let's hope this doesn't happen again with ARS.

The Future

Keep an eye on ARS in the next few months. Currently ARS doesn't have much of an investment beyond buying the IRSI facility (no doubt at fire sale prices). I imagine they will ramp up quickly if and when they get a contract to build new cars, or service existing rail car fleets.

I wish them well!

MM&A and Employees Charged

Associated Press photo, Paul Chiasson

Just over 9 months after the railway disaster in Lac-Mégantic on July 6 2013, three men were arrested by the Sûreté du Québec (the Quebec provincial police) and each will be charged with 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death on Tuesday. The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway itself also received the same charges.

The three are:

• Thomas Harding, the engineer of the train that rolled into Lac-Mégantic;
• Richard Labrie, a railway traffic controller for the railway; and
• Jean Demaitre, the director of operations for the railway.

It's said that Harding was arrested by a SWAT team, even though his lawyer (Thomas Walsh) had already communicated that he would voluntarily turn himself in if charged.

I'm curious why it took so long to lay charges. It's possible that there is a draft of the upcoming Transportation Safety Board report being privately circulated that contained enough to get warrants for their arrests. I'm sure it'll come out soon.

I'm also a little surprised that more people weren't charged.

EDIT: The Transport Minister, Lisa Raitt, is announcing new rail tanker rules right now, another direct result of the Lac-Mégantic disaster.

References:

• Wall Street Journal article
• National Post article
• Link to the former officers of the MMA here.
• Is Tom Harding a villain or victim?

New Name For The MMA, and Tank Cars

DOT-111 car carrying crude oil

The Bangor Daily News is reporting that the new owner of the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic will change the railway's name to the Central Maine and Quebec Railway once the deal closes, probably by the end of March.

The excellent Oil-Electric blog has a good history of the rail line. He raises the interesting question of what power will operate the railway, given that the MMA is selling 25 locomotives to raise money. Perhaps the CM and Q will lease locomotives to start. or perhaps they have no intention of actually operating This filing to the Surface Transportation Board asks for an exemption for a non-rail company to own the CM and Q and operate essentially the same routes and serve the same customers as the MMA.

Speculation on the cause of the Lac-Mégantic runaway has focused on an insufficient number of hand brakes being set on the locomotives and freight cars (I thought that too). It has come to light that the MMA was repeatedly warned about not setting enough brakes - in 2004, 2009, 2011 and 2012.

I have a number of comments I'd like to make about Transport Canada's effectiveness, but that will have to wait for another time.

Meanwhile, Transport Canada is calling for increased tank car safety (but not requiring it) and Irving Oil is voluntarily upgrading the DOT-111 cars in its tank car fleet for increased protection. I'm told that they had a backlog of cars in Saint John due to difficulties with unloading in the cold temperatures, but the backlog is almost clear now. As non-upgraded DOT-111 cars are emptied, they will be shipped off to be upgraded.

EDIT: Added STB link, thank you JHansen!

Trains Return to Lac-Mégantic Today

More than five months after the rail disaster in Lac-Mégantic, a freight train will roll through town today. The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) railway is running a short six-car train loaded with prefabricated panels from Tafisa, a local manufacturer of particleboard and melamine panels. No dangerous goods will be on the train.

Meanwhile, a bidder has emerged for the bankrupt MMA. Railroad Acquisition Holdings, LLC, believed to be a subsidiary of Fortress Investment Group. It is expected that more bidders will emerge before the deadline of January 17, 2014.

Bakken Crude By Rail? Under Review

In the wake of the Lac-Mégantic disaster, many people have many questions. People are asking what traffic rolls through their communities, agencies are reviewing emergency response plans, people are wondering whether rail or pipeline transport is safer, new regulations were rushed out, and even the Canadian Senate was involved.

Omnitrax
In August, Omnitrax Inc., owner of the Hudson Bay Railway and the Port of Churchill, announced they were planning a test shipment of oil to Churchill for export. The plan was to ship 330,000 barrels* of oil to Churchill for loading on a tanker. About $2 million in upgrades to port facilities were required to increase the pumping capacity there.

Groups have come out in opposition to this plan, including the Wilderness Council and the province of Manitoba. This is natural, considering what happened in Lac-Mégantic. One has to consider a few points, though:

• the Hudson Bay Railway is already shipping light petroleum products (gasoline and diesel) to Churchill;
• the Hudson Bay Railway has had reportable accidents every year from 2003 to 2012;
• emergency response to a spill on the line could be very difficult as much of the line is in very remote areas.

I just don't know whether it is a good idea or not. The railway needs the traffic but I think they need to provide some convincing assurances that it will be transported safely.

Irving Oil
The CBC is reporting that Irving Oil is shifting "away from rail to transport crude" and will be doubling the amount of oil they will be receiving by barge from Albany, NY. Currently they are receiving a shipload of oil from Albany via the tanker Afrodite every 8 days, and the article says this will double shortly with another ship being added to the route.

The article is very misleading as it does not ask how the oil gets to Albany. Very likely it is being shipped by rail in the United States.

Quotation
Incidentally, I was quoted recently in the Portland Press Herald in regard to idle tank cars in Maine.

* there is some confusion about whether the plan was for 330,000 barrels or gallons. Personally I can't imagine it was gallons because that's about 10 tank cars and hardly worth mentioning.

More Photos of Lac-Mégantic Engines

Jody Robinson and Gary Lee both photographed the same train that Steve O'Brien saw in Fredericton Junction, with the two (ex?) MMA leased engines CITX 3053 and CEFX 3166 and the MMA caboose VB-1 (not VB-4 as previously reported). These were posted to the excellent RailsNB Facebook group.

Jody photographed the train in McAdam.

Nice photos, Jody!

Gary Lee was positioned at the St. Croix River, right on the border between Canada and the USA. He had some great light! Note the Canadian and US flags on HLCX 6319.

Great shots, Gary!

Gary also posted a video of boaters on the river with the train rolling past.

PS the MMA is saying they need to rebuild the line through/around Lac-Mégantic to make themselves more salable. Makes sense, but of course there are questions about how polluted the site is and whether it will be on its original routing or around the town. The Lac-Mégantic mayor, Colette Roy-Laroche, is quoted as saying restoring rail service is one of the town's main priorities.

PPS the Canadian Senate's Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee issued a series of recommendations for transportation of crude oil and natural gas. It's important to note they started this process months before the Lac-Mégantic disaster, although Lac-Mégantic is certainly mentioned in the report. Here's the full report.

Lac-Megantic Engines Visit Saint John

The MMA engines from the Lac-Mégantic disaster visited Saint John, New Brunswick last week. The five engines and the remote control caboose were at the NB Southern shops on Wednesday August 14, reportedly for inspection by the Transportation Safety Board. You may recall the engines and caboose were:

• MMA C30-7 #5017
• Remote Caboose #VB-4
• MMA C30-7 #5026
• CITX SD40-2 #3053
• MMA C30-7 #5023
• CEFX SD40-2 #3166

Here's a photo of the ill-fated train somewhere near Farnham, Quebec on its way east showing that MMA 5017 was in the lead. This was prior to parking the train at Nantes and the subsequent runaway and derailment. This photo was taken by Richard Deuso. I don't know who took this photo.

Eagle-eye Steve O'Brien saw the caboose, CITX 3053 and CEFX 3166 depart on a westbound NB Southern train on Friday August 16th. He spotted the train passing through Fredericton Junction at 08:35 and snapped a few photos with his camera phone. The train had six SD40s in total, with a green NB Southern leased SD40-2 leading, HLCX 6340, HLCX 6332, HLCX 6304, then the MMA leasers CITX 3053 and CEFX 3166 followed by the caboose VB-1 and the rest of the train.

The three MMA C30-7 engines are still in the NB Southern shops as of August 20. It is not known why they are still there.

Here are some of Steve's snaps of the train as it crossed the river into Fredericton Junction.

NB Southern leased SD40-2 leads a westbound freight. Photo by Steve O'Brien.

CITX 3053 in Fredericton Junction. Photo by Steve O'Brien.

CEFX 3066 in Fredericton Junction. Photo by Steve O'Brien.

MMA caboose VB-4 in Fredericton Junction. Photo by Steve O'Brien.

Thanks for sharing those, Steve!

PS Note the caboose on this train was VB-1 yet the caboose on the Lac-Mégantic train was reported to be VB-4.

EDIT: Gave credit to Richard Deuso for his MMA photo. Thanks to Steve O'Brien for the update.

Fight Over Lac-Mégantic Cleanup Costs

The Quebec provincial government has added CP Rail to its list of companies deemed responsible for the cleanup of the Lac-Mégantic disaster. The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) is on the list, of course, as well as the Western Petroleum Company (owners of the rail cars?) and World Fuel Services (the purchaser of the fuel).

The finger-pointing is in full swing. World Fuel Services says they aren't responsible, since they dealt only with CP, and CP subcontracted to MMA. CP is appealing the decision and says they aren't responsible. At least the MMA is not denying they have some responsibility.

Let's face it - nobody is going to step up and say they are responsible if they can avoid it. The cleanup costs are going to be huge (estimated at over $200 million) and the class-action suit(s) are going to pile on too (they're already going after CP). It would be crazy for any company (except MMA) to pay now, before any official reports have come out about the accident.

Fortunately, the water quality is improving. There's no word yet on the tons of contaminated soil in the "red zone" (explosion area) and what is to be done with that.

In other Lac-Mégantic news, the MMA may get an extension to their operating permit since they have said they still have liability insurance. They can operate to October 1 provided they can prove they have liability insurance by August 23.

The CBC is reporting that J.D. Irving is considering purchasing the MMA rail lines. This makes a lot of sense, since the MMA line provides their only direct connection with CP in Quebec (see map).

Here's a few other blogs who have done some analysis of the Lac-Mégantic incident:

• Thomas Blampied's Railway World
• CP Rail Manitoba and Minnesota Subdivision
• Road Wolf

Aside: When did the NB Southern web site start referring to the NB&M Railways instead of NB Southern? It looks like someone did a massive search and replace. I looked at archive.org, and apparently the NB Southern web site still said NB Southern on June 21, but now it says NB&M.

The End Of The MM&A?

The recent railway disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec has ended the lives of 47 people, changed the lives of the town's residents forever, and now it may spell the end of the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway.

On Wednesday August 7, the railway filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the USA and simultaneously filed for relief from credits in Quebec provincial court. They disclosed the following:

• their Canadian liability insurance (through XL Insurance) does not exceed $25 million;
• their Canadian net worth is about $18 million;
• their gross revenues have declined from about $3 million/month to $1 million/month post-accident; and
• expected cleanup costs are expected to exceed $200 million, much greater than the value of the insurance plus the value of the company.

Under this protection, the company can continue to operate to attempt to operate, provided the judge permits it.

However, another blow was struck on Tuesday August 13 when the Canadian Transportation Agency revoked the MMA's license to operate due to a lack of liability insurance. This is an obvious step, since their liability insurance will be fully committed to the Lac-Mégantic cleanup and they're not going to be able to get more insurance. The railway has until August 20 to wind down its Canadian operations. The Agency is going to review other federally regulated railways.

This marks the second time that rail line's owner has gone bankrupt, since Iron Road Railways went bankrupt in 2002.

Lac-Mégantic, Three Weeks Later

It's been 22 days since the terrible derailment and disaster at Lac-Mégantic. The community is no doubt still in shock and trying to make sense of the disaster. It is believed that 47 people died, although some have yet to be identified. The CBC says life is slowly returning to normal but I can't imagine the town will be anything like "normal" for a long time.

The federal government has promised $60 million in aid for the town, matching the province of Quebec's contribution. About 1,000 runners ran the 12 km from the Eastern Townships to Lac-Mégantic to raise money for the victims.

A lot of focus has been placed on the operation of MMA trains by a single crew person. This Eastern Railroad News article talks about the introduction of single-person crews. In theory a one-person crew can operate a train but I have questions about the operation of main line trains by single crews, mainly what might happen if the crew-person has health issues while operating the train.

The Transportation Safety Board has posted a Rail Advisory Letter after the accident, advising Transport Canada to consider reviewing its procedures on unattended trains. Transport Canada has issued an emergency directive disallowing one-man operation for trains with tank cars, as well as other directives for unattended trains. New Brunswick Southern Railway has announced changes to its operating procedures, although it never left main line trains unattended anyway.

Of course, the lawsuits have begun, with a class-action suit naming pretty much anyone with any involvement.

A fellow named Mathieu Huchette posted a photo purportedly of the lead engine (MMA 5017) on fire at Nantes, just prior to the train rolling away.

The MMA has laid off a large portion of its employees (19/80 in Canada and 79/179 in the USA) due to the continued closure of the line through Lac-Mégantic. The company is reported to be struggling financially, and its Farnham, Quebec offices were raided by police looking for information for their investigation.

Much more to come.

PS - Eastern Rail News have other related articles on their news page but they are subscription-only. Consider subscribing - it's quite inexpensive right now.

More on Lac-Mégantic

Many more details are emerging on the Lac-Mégantic disaster.

MMA's chairman, Edward Burkhardt, was interviewed about the accident. His position is that the railway followed generally-accepted practices. He said the practices were obviously not sufficient and they have made changes already: the train will continue on to Sherbrooke and not change in Nantes, and the trains will not be left unmanned.

Burkhardt visited the scene today, and during media interviews he basically said the engineer didn't set enough hand brakes. "It seems an adequate number of hand brakes were not set, and this is the engineer's responsibility. I don't think he'll be back working with us." Apparently the train engineer, Tom Harding, pulled nine of the tank cars out of the way after the explosions started.

Here's a good piece describing how train brakes work and how trains are parked. MMA officials said that all five locomotives had their hand brakes on, but it did not say how many cars also had their hand brakes on. The accepted rule of thumb is 10% of the cars plus 2 brakes. For a train of 5 engines and 72 cars, at least 9 hand brakes should have been set. The fact that the train was on a slope should have been considered as well.

There is speculation that the initial explosions were caused by propane cars in the downtown. This makes more sense than the crude oil exploding. Crude will burn, of course, but it is not that volatile.

The cleanup continues, and the grisly task of finding and identifying bodies is part of that. The Quebec police are currently treating this as a crime scene. Mr. Burkhardt said that MMA has not been permitted access to the locomotives.

Many towns with railway tracks nearby are now questioning the railways. Rothesay, NB is questioning CN and Harvey, NB already talked to NB Southern. So is Ste-Anne, MB. I think it's good that they are questioning, so they can update their emergency response plans and be aware of the risks. I don't think it is realistic to expect the railways to share the exact consist of every train passing through, but it would be helpful for the towns to know what kind of cargoes travel through.

First Thoughts on the Lac-Mégantic Disaster

By now I'm sure you have read the news reports about the Lac-Mégantic train accident.. but if not, here's the recap: a Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) freight train was parked a few miles outside of the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. The engineer booked off and left, and sometime in the early morning the unmanned train rolled into Lac-Mégantic, derailed and a number of explosions occurred, followed by intense fires. At this point it appears that thirteen (13) people were killed but it is likely that this number will rise, as up to 40 are reported missing. The explosion and fires happened in the downtown core and the town is devastated, physically and emotionally. About 2,000 of the 6,000 people living in the town were evacuated and at least 30 buildings downtown have been destroyed.

From this press release from MMA and CBC and National Post reports, the timeline appears to be:

• July 5, 23:15: Train stopped and tied down by engineer at Nantes. The train had 5 locomotives and 72 car loads of crude oil, destined for Irving Oil in Saint John, NB.
• July 5, 23:30: Nearby resident calls 911 and reports a fire in the parked train. Firefighters respond and put the fire out. A track maintenance employee of MMA was present.
• July 6, ?????: Train starts rolling downhill to Lac-Mégantic.
• July 6, 01:15: Train derailed at Rue Frontenac crossing in downtown Lac-Mégantic
• July 6 (later): Firefighters battle the intense blaze through the day. 13 intact carloads pulled from rear of train by MMA.

From the second press release by MMA, it appears the engine(s) were shut down after the engineer left, presumably during or after the firefighters arrived to put the fire out. What is disturbing to me is that the MMA statement says that the shutdown "may have resulted in the release of air brakes on the locomotive that was holding the train in place". I am no railroader but section 112 of the Canadian Rail Operating Rules is quite clear on this.

When equipment is left at any point a sufficient number of hand brakes must be applied to prevent it from moving. Special instructions will indicate the minimum hand brake requirements for all locations where equipment is left. If equipment is left on a siding, it must be coupled to other equipment if any on such track unless it is necessary to provide separation at a public crossing at grade or elsewhere.

(emphasis mine)  The implication is that air brakes cannot be relied upon to hold a train in place. Again, I am strictly an amateur but this did catch my eye.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating and they have 14 people on the scene. I understand the locomotive event recorder has been recovered. That will help fill in the timeline as to when the train started moving, and most crucially, when the air brakes were released.

In addition to the tragic loss of life, the destruction of the town, there are concerns about water quality due to the quantity of spilled crude oil.

There are some railfan reports that the runaway train may have struck a set of propane cars that were in the town and those are what caused the initial explosions.

My heart is broken at the thoughts of the people killed and injured as a result of this terrible accident.

EDIT: More information here that confirms that the firefighters shut the engine down before battling the blaze.