Breaking news: Canadian town center 'wiped out' as freight train carrying hundreds of tons of crude oil derails and explodes | Mail Online I never realized that large amounts of crude were transported via rail, or that trains carrying large amounts of crude could be unmanned and run on "autopilot".
wow, that's crazy! hope it wasn't terrorism. if not, another sad oil related accident. prayers all the best to our canadian friends in the area.
Not quite ontopic: Did you know while most oil is shipped by pipe (safer and more fuel efficient), most ethanol is delivered by truck? This is what can happen.
Flammable and otherwise hazardous materials are routinely transported by rail. Maybe the engineers forgot the parking brake when they went for lunch. Locomotives aren't supposed to run on autopilot.
It would be quite easy for a couple of kids to clamber aboard and start playing with the controls. I'm not saying that's what happened, but it sounds like a plausible scenario.
