The railroad put the small lakeside town of Lac-Megantic on the map. And over the weekend, the railroad wiped part of the town off the map.
Founded in 1884 when the Canadian Pacific Railway began construction on the final leg of track linking Montreal and the Port of Saint John in New Brunswick, Lac-Megantic was shaken on Saturday when an oil-laden train bound for a Saint John refinery derailed and exploded, leaving at least 15 dead and dozens unaccounted for.
The Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway train with 72 cars of crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken basin was left unattended by its conductor and rolled downhill, blowing a hole in downtown Lac-Megantic, likened to "a war zone" by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The dead found Monday were burned beyond recognition, officials said.
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