Some Thoughts on Rail Security

Remember this scene from "The West Wing?"

Sam Seaborne: Bridges and tunnels.

Leo McGary: What?

Sam: Bridges and tunnels. That’s my worst fear in the event of a terrorist attack. What’s yours?

Leo (annoyed): Well now it’s bridges and tunnels!

I am always nervous when I endeavor to write about terrorist threats. I have a different outlook because of the life I have lived. I worry about port security, unguarded coastlines and waterways; and bridges and tunnels. Now comes railroads. I worry about freaking people out, and I worry about giving terrorists ideas.

But this is a "People need to know" vein. Today, I find out that the railways are pleading poverty and asking congress to allow them to cut train crews down to one person. Never mind that Union Pacific just recorded its largest quarterly profit in history, they can’t afford to adequately crew their trains. (Terrorism training for engine and train crews consists of one 15 minute video.)

Living as I do in a rail hub, this doesn’t just scare me, it pisses me off. Trains rumble through Kansas City every day, blocks from my house. They come from all directions and they all pass other trains that are headed the opposite direction. Trains come from St. Louis, Wichita, Des Moines, Chicago, Omaha, Little Rock, Dallas, you name it, trains from there pass through here. We are truly the crossroads of America. Rail lines dissect this city. They run along the southern edge of downtown, and along the river on the northern edge of downtown. Railroads cut through Johnson County and the monied interests over there who may not have thought of these things.

The most logical act of terrorism to commit from the rails is a "dirty bomb" on the edge of downtown, between the board of trade and the river, and shut down the financial markets. Of course, some nasty chemicals go down those tracks too, so track sabotage would be sweat-intensive, but potentially effective. I routinely see trains that exceed 150 cars in length, and one crewman cannot inspect every car frequently.

Every time a train pulls a grade, there is the opportunity for someone to hop a boxcar. Every time a train stops in a railyard, the opportunity for stowaways is rife. I ride my bike in the railyards if I’m headed that way anyway because there is no traffic. I never see any security, and rarely see rail workers unless they are loading or unloading boxcars and flatbeds. Once done, they split, leaving loaded cargo vulnerable to tampering, and some of the stuff in tankers is pretty volatile.

My imagination can paint a pretty freakin’ scary terrorism scenario from there…and we haven’t even got to poisoned grain supplies yet…

America needs to focus on the vulnerabilities. They are there, if we just wipe the lotus-blur from our eyes and look around at the real live actual world we live in.

And as for the legendary greed of the railways, ever since the days of Vanderbilt? Fuck ‘em. If they refuse to adequately staff and provide security on the trains and in the railyards, federalize them. See how they like them apples.