Canada: Lac-Mégantic Bypass Project Advancing
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
Nearly a decade after the horrific derailment of a crude oil unit train at Lac-Mégantic, Quebec that claimed 47 lives and led to new regulations for railroad hazmat tank cars, Canada Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra on Jan. 14 announced that building a 12.5-km (7.75-mile) bypass to get trains out of downtown Lac-Mégantic “remains a priority.” While the government has signed agreements to acquire some of the land for the project, he said, it has decided not to extend the “mutual negotiation period” with the remaining impacted owners after doing so three times, so that the project can move forward.
![“Thanks to Secretary Pete [Buttigieg], USDOT, the Federal Railroad Administration and all our partners for making the S-Line passenger rail a reality!!” NCDOT Secretary Joey Hopkins said in a July 1 LinkedIn post. “Thanks to the hard work of our NCDOT team we broke ground on the first construction project in the Raleigh to Wake Forest segment, a $19M project to grade separate Durant Road 7 months after the grant announcement!!” (Photograph Courtesy of Joey Hopkins)](https://www.railwayage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/slinelead-315x168.png)
