Railroad lays off 79 in wake of disaster
The Hermon-based Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway has laid off nearly half of its workers following an accident involving a runaway train that killed at least 37 people in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic on July 6.
The Bangor Daily News reported the company decided to lay off 79 of its 179 employees Monday, which company President Robert Grindrod attributed to a “drastic drop in business” following the closure of the railroad’s tracks in Quebec.
Grindrod told the paper he could not provide details on how many American workers would be affected by the layoffs. The remaining workers, he said, are working on alternate routes for the company’s freight that he said could take about a week to finish. Grindrod estimated 80% of the company’s traffic, serving about 200 customers in Canada, Maine and Vermont, would need to be rerouted.
The state’s Department of Labor said Wednesday its Rapid Response team will offer aid to those workers in the form of services from the state’s CareerCenter system and other department programs.
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