A lethal accident in Quebec involving a train carrying crude oil accounted for as many as 50 deaths in July. The accident has focused regulatory attention on the huge growth in crude-by-rail that has accompanied the North American shale oil boom. Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railways said all 72 cars were carrying crude, totaling 50,000 barrels, to Irving Oil's 300,000 b/d refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, when it derailed and exploded in Lac-Megantic July 7. Quebec train derailment, chief investigator Donald Ross said the train arrived at Nantes, about seven miles west of Lac-Megantic, at 11 p.m. local time July 5. At 11.50 p.m., a fire was reported on the locomotive, which was extinguished by the local fire department. According to Transport Safety Board official Ed Belkaloul, at 12.56 a.m. July 6, the unmanned train started rolling down a continuous slope into Lac-Megantic and 18 minutes later derailed on a curve in the center of the town at a speed "much over" the authorized limit. Part of Lac-Megantic was flattened by the blast and subsequent inferno.
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