I expected that verdict. It was a pretty poor criminal case against the crew.

They were dead on the law, and did what was required of them. It was insufficient to prevent this accident, especially after the firefighters shut down the engine, and the air bled off. The management failure to send qualified personnel to properly secure the train is another matter. But, this was a notoriously mismanaged operation. And, this is not a walk on the civil liability for negligence by the carrier.

If you expected a lynch mob, remember this is Canada. And, many already felt this was a poor criminal case, and was being pursued largely because of public anger over this needless tragedy.

At least this tragedy resulted in forcing the shippers to de-gas this highly explosive fracking oil, before we did this in a major urban population center, with even more disastrous results. De gassing rules for shippers are another excellent example of how the book of rules, and many of our wiser health and safety regulations, are "written in blood".