Trial Mégantic: cross-examination of the deputy director at the transport of the MMA

Photo By Caroline Lepage
Michael Horan

Jean-François Desbiens

Thursday, 12 October 2017 14:44

UPDATE
Thursday, 12 October 2017 14:44

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SHERBROOKE – At the trial of the three ex-employees of the MMA, the prosecutors, the defence have cross-examined Michael Horan, former deputy director of the railway company.

Train conductor Thomas Harding had been accused by a colleague of letting the automatic brakes (air system), depending on when he tied the train to Nantes.

His lawyer has asked Michael Horan explain how many braking systems on a train and how they work.

There are four systems, has referred to the witness:

– independent brakes: these brakes exert a holding force on the wheels and axles of locomotives only

– automatic brakes: a system with cylinder air which exerts a pressure on the wheels of all the trucks, locomotives and rail cars

– hand brakes: these brakes apply manually on each of the components of a convoy by turning a wheel

(on tank cars Dot-111, which are involved in the tragedy train July 2013, there were hooves that pressed each of the wheels of the wagon)

– dynamic brakes: emergency braking system is usable only when the train is in motion. Using a controller, we reverse the traction motors to slow the speed of the train.

The policy of the company Montreal Maine and Atlantic railway on the security and the immobilization of a train was to the effect of using the automatic system only while the locomotive engineer was going to apply the hand brakes on the cars. The automatic system or air was then removed to perform the tests of retention in the movement of the brake manual and should not be restarted.

Regarding the choice to stop the train at the top of the slope in Nantes, Michael Horan explained that the company’s decision by the length of the convoys. The trains that made their way into the Maine there were too many cars. The park at the rail yard in Lac-Mégantic would have had the effect of blocking of passages and thus hinder the flow of traffic in the city centre.

Picking up on the fact that Thomas Harding was operating the train alone, the witness explained that, to his knowledge, it was a relatively new practice within the MMA Canada, but already in place on the u.s. side.

The question from Me to Thomas Walsh, lawyer for Thomas Harding: “what a derailleur would have prevented the train from running away and away as was the case the night of July 6, 2013 ?” Michael Horan responded in the affirmative.

Recall that the siding at Nantes was equipped with such equipment, but not the traffic lane where the train had been parked. The policy of the MMA was to use the siding to store rail cars of other companies.

To know if there are derailleurs, according to the witness, yes, but he added that he had never seen and do not know what it might be like.

In the reports on internal security, he said that there was often a question of methods of securing of a train when it is left unattended, regardless of location. He did not remember if it was discussed specifically with regard to the situation of Nantes.

Thomas Harding, the locomotive engineer, John Demaître, director of the MMA in Quebec and the controller railway Richard Labrie were undergoing trial under a charge of criminal negligence causing the death of 47 people in connection with the derailment of a train of 72 tank cars filled with oil. Michael Horan is the 10th of the thirty witnesses who must be heard in the course of this trial, whose end is not foreseen until December 21.