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BANGOR, Me. — The railroad company whose runaway oil train caused a fire and explosion that killed 47 people in a small town in Canada filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday.
The company — Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in United States and Canadian courts, citing debts to more than 200 creditors after the July disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec.
The company chairman, Ed Burkhardt, said previously that a bankruptcy filing was likely after service disruptions because its rail line remained closed in Lac-Mégantic. The company, based in Hermon, Me., also faces lawsuits and enormous cleanup costs related to the disaster.
The parked train, with 72 tankers full of crude oil, was unattended when it began rolling toward town, eventually derailing downtown. Several tankers exploded, destroying 40 buildings in the lakeside town of 6,000 residents.
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