Terrorist hitting freight traffic?

There have been alot of threads lately about railroads and terrorism. While I was reading and thinking about them, a question arose. Have terrorists attacked freight traffic in past?

I don't know. I can't think of any other than some French Resistance attacking Nazi trains. Do you know of any?

Eric

 

A German Uboat dropped off some spies/saboteurs on Long Island at least once. A coast watcher reported them and they were pretty quickly rounded up. I believe the PRR shops were high on the German target list. I don't recall another major incident, but others might. Frank

 

Islamic terrorists have a long history of attacking and destroying railroads. The Ottoman Empire built the Hedjaz Railway from Damascus, now in Syria, to Mecca, now in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis, egged on by the British in World War I, did so much damage to the railway that it was never rebuilt. :cat:

 

The British Officer who led the Arabs in their effort to destroy the Hejaz Railway was Lieutenant-Colonel T.E. Lawrence, later memorialized by the film Lawrence of Arabia.
Interesting write-up here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hejaz_railway

 

No, not freight trains, but there was a passenger incident in Spain that was kinda gruesome. Indian trains blow up all the time.

When they come, the target will be a kindergarden, not a railroad train. Easier. Better shots for CNN.

 

That's kinda my point. There has been all this hue and cry about security for freght trains because of the hazmat they contain, ect. But I don't think we should be wasting as many resources as we are on freight rail protection.

I do think that there should be some awareness regarding the security of freight traffic.

As far as passenger traffic goes, I don't think we are doing enough. I think there should be a RR police officer on every train - at least one. And there should be some passenger screening. just some thoughts

Eric

 

The goals of destroying trains in a case of a war is obviously to distrupt the war effort and pretty supplies from being sent. But terrorists wouldn't bother with freight trains, they'd rather blow up the factories...

It was regular german practice to have various sabotage missions on enemy territory.. few had results, though.

 

Tradionaly freight trains were blown up and sabatoged throughout wartime to disrupt the supply chain. Nowadays in North America The rail service ( while still nessasary ) is not essential to the supply chain. What with the over the road trucks hauling approx. 45% of all US coast to Coast frieght the slack can be picked up that way. ( and to be honest if it needs to get there in a hurry you use a truck). The only reason HS is concerned about trains, is the FEAR FACTOR, can you imagine the devastation that would ensue should a 20 or 30 car propane train, or CNG train or any of a multitude of other Haz-Mat substances do to the downtown of any city?. The train dosn't have to be hi-jacked for a worst case scenario like this to happen, all it would take is someone planting a device under one of these cars while it is sitting, then remote control detonate them. Or for that matter carefully watch the train, watch the timing and drive a large truck through the side at a level crossing somewhere where they know the train will be crossing.. The Gov. really needs to sit down and do some serious thinking about things like this and stop with the KNEE JERK reactions. I mean a professional truck driver has to have a security background check done so that they can haul haz-mat, let's get serious if someone wanted to blow something up with a truck, they would not "legally" obtain the product and transport it to where ever, they would steal the truck... sorry, I'm ranting. Touchy subject for me

 

ACtually go back and read my post.... It says trains ARE still nessesary but they are not essential..... Seems you picked just one small part of the post, you did not get the salient point. That being Homeland Security does and should be paying more attention to rail traffic.

Timbuck2 Who?

 

I wholeheartedly agree, any and all forms of transportation are subject to terrorist attack, as well as to accidents. As well as the point that Homeland Security and other agencies need to keep one step ahead of the criminal element. And yes they pretty much have a full plate trying to monitor all modes of transport. But the problem is the Knee Jerk reactions they have to some things. IE having a background/security check done on a truck driver, (which the driver has to pay for), just so he can haul haz-mat?, a special "transport worker identity card" to enter ports, ( which also involves a background/security check, which the driver has to also pay for) as well as a host of other background/security checks to haul other commoditites ( weapons/ammo for the military, radioactives for power plants etc.)
As for the point about rail being non-essential, with the vast system of interstate, state, county roads there is a much better redundancy in the movement of freight without as great of a time loss if a disaster was to strike.
The difference between a 20 ton semi pulling LPG exploding in the heart of a major city and a 4000 ton drag of LPG cars exploding in the same area is huge.

I'm just saying that law enforment needs to step up vigilance on our rail systems. How often have we seen a train stopped for a crew change with no one around?, how often do rail personal look under a car to inspect the bottom of the car?, ( unless there is something hanging down.).

Timbuck2 who?

 

Vigilance on such a large scale is the root of the problem. Unless we wish to become a country of watchers watching the watchers watching other watchers, there will always be vulnerabilities and risks.