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October 15, 2013

MM&A prepares for railway reopening

The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway has rehired six to eight workers in anticipation of  reopening its line through Lac-Megantic, Quebec, where a July 6 oil tanker crash killed 47 people.

The Bangor Daily News reported Robert Keach, the company’s court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, expects the rail line could reopen by Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28. He said the move will boost the company’s revenue and increase its value in advance of a bankruptcy auction he hopes will take place before the end of the year.

Keach told the paper the rehiring will allow the company to have two-man crews on its trains, a safety measure that U.S. regulators urged following the tragic crash that involved a train crewed by one person.

Separately, some railroad industry observers and executives have raised concerns over MM&A Chairman Ed Burkhardt’s board membership on the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway, MM&A’s second-largest creditor. Company officials and Keach contest that the railway chairman’s board membership raises any ethical concerns as the company’s bankruptcy proceedings advance.

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