OTTAWA - Transport Canada has approved rules intended to reduce the risk of runaway trains in response to recommendations by the Transportation Safety Board following the deadly derailment in Lac-Megantic, Que.
The department says the rules set a standard on the number of applied handbrakes required and additional securement measures to secure trains.
Such measures were imposed in an emergency directive after the disaster in Lac-Megantic, but Transport Canada say they are now permanent and more detailed.
The rules include a handbrake application chart for various operating situations, which once applied must be confirmed by another employee with an appropriate level of knowledge.
Forty-seven people were killed on July 6, 2013, when an unattended train loaded with oil exploded after careening into the centre of Lac-Megantic.