Wave of Train Derailments: Error, Sabotage, Vandalism or Terrorism?

By the Rails - Gyula Derkovits

Max is back to business...

During my summer pause, many things have happened around the world; but the most interesting of them all was Anthony Weiner's recidivism of sexual nature (apparently, this US politician has "misbehaved" again). But I am not going to talk about it because there are more pressing issues to discuss.

On the past month of July, we witnessed four train derailments, in four different countries. It could be nothing; after all, trains derail and crash all the time, around the world - many will think. However, the intervals of these incidents may offer clues that perhaps they may not have been that coincidental:

• 9th of July - Lac-Megantic, Quebec (Canada). A train with 72 tankers of crude oil, derailed and exploded; wiping out a strip of the town. First, the driver was blamed but then the police found evidence of a criminal act.
• 12th of July - Bretigny-sur-Orge, south of Paris (France). An intercity train derailed and and crashed into a station platform. At first, the driver was blamed but then the authorities concluded the cause of the incident was the detachment of the metal bar connecting the two rails, and began investigating how this could have happened (i.e. they suspect foul play).
• 25th of July - Santiago de Compostela, Galicia (Spain). A train derailed and crashed, on the eve of the feast of St James. The driver has been blamed. Although witnesses reported they heard an explosion previous to the derailment and crash - having one of them said she "had heard an explosion before seeing the derailed train"; the Spanish seem to have dismissed those testimonies for some undisclosed reason...
• 29th of July - Granges-Prés-Marnand (Switzerland). Two trains collided. One of the drivers was found dead. The police is investigating what could have provoked the crash in what is considered to be one of the most secure rail networks in Europe (although, until the day this article was concluded, the probable cause presented was "driver error").

The second incident occurred three days after the first; the fourth occurred four days after the third. The two last incidents occurred thirteen days after the two first. Concatenating these events with other major events and threats is capital. There are no coincidences. The European investigators seemed, at first, to be treating these tragic incidents as unrelated misfortunes caused by human error; but now the French fear that their tragic derailment was caused by sabotage, vandalism...

"Three of the four bolts fixing a steel plate which jumped out of position to derail the Paris-Limoges express are believed to have broken or come loose – something which is regarded as being almost impossible."..."In the memory of railwaymen, bolts have never given way on their own,”...“A deliberate act of sabotage cannot be excluded.”..."Railway experts say that it is conceivable for one bolt in a fishplate to break or come loose, but almost impossible that three out of four should fail at the same time." (The Independent)

Conspiracy Theory

The police, in the four incidents, find proof of foul play (they may even find forensic evidence pointing at the culprit[s]). They are approached by national security agents, who advise them against disclosing information to the press/public lest the "criminal(s)" manage to evaporate; political representatives also approach the authorities to beseech them to avoid using words such as "terrorism" lest some fringes of population cause a bloodshed and a huge political crisis near diplomatic partners - omission of facts is the best policy to keep order.

So, what are we talking about here: human error, sabotage, vandalism or terrorism? You tell me...