MONTREAL—The fractured train tracks that roll through the Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic could begin carrying shipments of crude oil within the next 18 months, says the head of the company that is taking control of the rails.

Oil and other dangerous materials have been banned from the tracks after the July 6, 2013 train disaster that killed 47 people when a 72-car runaway train skipped the tracks, caught fire, exploded and destroyed a large section of the town’s downtown core.

John Giles, president and CEO of the Central Maine and Quebec Railway, said he hopes to reach an agreement with the town to begin carrying non-hazardous goods through Lac-Mégantic within 10 days. The company plans to resume shipments of crude oil by late 2015, he told The Associated Press Friday.

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The company that owned and operated the tracks, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic filed for bankruptcy in the aftermath of the disaster. Its assets were recently purchased by New York-based Fortress Investment Group, of which Central Main and Quebec Railway is a subsidiary.

Giles, who could not be reached for an interview, told the Bangor Daily News this week that the company will invest up to $10 million to repair and upgrade the tracks, particularly on the Canadian side of the rail network, which spans the Quebec-Maine border.

“You have to earn a lot of that trust, and the journey began today, which is also the first day we’ve owned the company,” Giles told the paper on Thursday.

Giles also said that an inspection of the tracks in March showed a portion that runs north to south in Maine is in good condition. But the section of the track that runs east toward the Canadian border needs to be repaired and improved.

The worst parts of the track are the sections that run between the Quebec towns of Sherbrooke and Farnham — the former Canadian headquarters of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic. They will need “a lot of love and attention and money,” Giles said.

He did not address the city of Lac-Mégantic’s long-standing desire to have the train tracks diverted so that they do not pass through the centre of town. Lac-Mégantic Mayor Colette Roy was not available for comment.

So far, the company has leased a dozen locomotives and has committed itself to safety. Unlike MMA, which obtained permission from the federal government to operate with a one-person crew, CMQ will have two-person crews (Transport Canada now requires all trains carrying hazardous goods to have two-person crews).

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Earlier this week, Quebec police charged the train’s engineer, Thomas Harding, and two other employees of MMA with 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death, charges that could result in life imprisonment if the accused are found guilty.

The flurry of activity in Lac-Mégantic 10 months after the July 6, 2013 disaster have re-opened some of the emotional wounds in the town of 6,000 people that remains a massive construction site marked by worried entrepreneurs struggling to restart their destroyed businesses or get on with their lives.

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