LAC-MEGANTIC, Que. - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard will be in Lac-Megantic today to announce a rail bypass five years after 47 people died when a train derailed and exploded in the town.
Sources have said the federal government will assume 60 per cent of the cost of building the bypass, with Quebec taking on the remaining 40 per cent.
The price tag for the 11-kilometre stretch is estimated at $133 million.
On July 6, 2013, the runaway train carrying crude oil from the United States careened off the track in Lac-Megantic and exploded, killing the 47 people and destroying part of the town centre.
The unmanned train that was parked on a slope in the nearby town of Nantes began moving on its own after the locomotive's engineer failed to apply sufficient brakes on the convoy.
The engineer, Tom Harding, and two other railway employees were put on trial for criminal negligence causing death and were found not guilty last January.
Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, the bankrupt company that employed the three accused and owned the train that derailed, did not stand trial.
The Crown said there was little chance of convicting the company.
