Six people have pleaded guilty to federal charges in the Lac Megantic disaster.

Former engineer Tom Harding, as well as ex-operations manager Jean Demaitre and four others were charged for not ensuring a sufficient number of hand brakes were applied to the train in the very early morning on July 6th, 2013, and for failing to carry out related safety tests.

A plea deal was worked out among the parties on December 1st and approved by a judge on Monday.

As part of the deal Harding and the others pleaded guilty to not apply enough hand brakes.

Harding was sentenced to a six month sentence to be served in the community, so he will not spend time in jail.

The five others were fined $50,000 each, with the money going into a fund dedicated to rebuilding Lac Megantic.

Those same individuals, as well as ex-traffic controller Richard Labrie, and the Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic railway were charged with polluting fish habitats after the crude oil on those destroyed tankers flowed into Lac Megantic.

The now defunct Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic railway was found guilty of the Fisheries Act violation and fined $1,000,000 but will likely end up paying $400,000 because it has declared bankruptcy.

The employees were all found not guilty of that offence.

Harding, Demaitre, and Labrie were all recently acquitted of criminal negligence causing the deaths of 47 people five years ago when a runaway train crashed and caught fire in Lac Megantic.