Hand brakes are the first line of defense in preventing equipment from rolling away. Sufficient hand brakes will prevent equipment movement in all weather conditions and over virtually unlimited periods of time.
When the train was left on the track in Nantes, prior to its descent to Lac-Mégantic, an insufficient number of hand brakes were applied and air brakes were not applied to all rail cars. There were no additional physical securement measures in place.
With the Emergency Directive, a similar train would be required to use a standardized amount of hand brakes and a hand brake test would have to be performed. In addition, air brakes would have to be applied on all rail cars and locomotives with additional physical securement measures which would provide a second and third line of defense.
