---

Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd's (MM&A) bankruptcy trustee is suing marine, aviation and land fuel specialist, World Fuel Services Corporation, over the role it played in carrying crude oil on the train that was involved in the deadly train derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec in July last year.

Chapter 11 trustee Robert J. Keach on Thursday filed a lawsuit in a Maine bankruptcy court against World Fuel Services and several related companies, accusing the owner of the crude oil MM&A's train was carrying when it derailed last summer of falsely identifying the crude oil as low danger when it fact it was highly volatile and dangerous.

The trustee says World Fuel Services knew or should have known that the type of tank cars carrying the oil were prone to rupture upon derailment, making the railway cars "unsafe and unsuitable" for the transport of the crude oil.

The train carrying the crude oil derailed last year, killing 47 people and partially destroying the centre of Lac-Mégantic, a small Quebec town.

The tanker train had been parked at Nantes station for the night when it broke loose and sped away without a driver on Saturday, July 6. The subsequent derailment and explosion sent a fireball and black smoke into the air, forcing the evacuation of around 1,000 people, and dozens of buildings were destroyed.

In the days after the incident, World Fuel Services confirmed that crude oil sold by one of its subsidiaries was being carried by railcars involved in the deadly train derailment and that the product was destined for Irving Oil in Saint John, New Brunswick.

On August 7, 2013, MM&A filed for bankruptcy protection in both the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal (under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act) and the United States Bankruptcy Court in Bangor, Maine (under Chapter 11).

A week later, the Canadian Transportation Agency announced it planned to revoke the MM&A's certificate of fitness effective August 20, 2013, citing inadequate liability insurance.

In September 2013, Transport Canada shut down part of the MM&A line after an inspection of six track segments found substandard rail conditions, which included a concentration of defective ties on a section near a propane storage facility. A failed October 11 inspection led Transport Canada to embargo the entire line between Lennoxville and Lac-Mégantic.

MM&A's assets were sold at auction to Railroad Acquisition Holdings (part of the Fortress Investment Group) in January 2014.

Image: Lac-Mégantic train crash.