US Railroads A Potential Target II

In the ready room , it was a bulletin talking about this.
And also under it someone wrote, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" I knew who wrote it and I asked whats tha deal. He said the bot cried wolf for so long that when the wolf came, no one beleived him, and he's gone. So his point is that they keep issuing all these terror alerts and nothing happens, and when one really is about to take place, no one will take it seriously, and cause even greater devastation. But it was buisness as usual. All this is, is mind games i think. I also thought about the potential of destruction my train could cause as we left the yard the other day, which was by chance a 9,000ft auto train.
But no one railroad related I know is taking it too seriously, yet anyways.Any other comments?

If you're gonna do it, do it with precision.

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RE: US Railroads A Potential Target II, SVTS, Oct-26-02, 11:26 AM, (1) RE: US Railroads A Potential Target II, DarkestRose, Oct-26-02, 11:33 AM, (2) RE: US Railroads A Potential Target II, highball5, Oct-26-02, 01:15 PM, (3) RE: US Railroads A Potential Target II, ChckHbrt, Oct-26-02, 05:58 PM, (4) RE: US Railroads A Potential Target II, precision, Oct-26-02, 10:14 PM, (5) RE: US Railroads A Potential Target II, darkfyre, Oct-27-02, 03:12 AM, (6) RE: US Railroads A Potential Target II, rpicardi1, Oct-27-02, 09:27 AM, (7)

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LAST EDITED ON Oct-26-02 AT 11:27 AM (EDT)

Well for what it is worth, you probally don't know very many people high up in the railroads. Just becuase you know a few low key people, doesn't mean there is not a seroius approach to the risk. The FBI and the Justice Dept seem to think there is a credible risk, and i'm sure upper management at the railroads and variuos ports around the country are paying attension as well. We live in a big country, where there are countless ways that damage can be done to the railroads in a manner that will inflect countless deaths if done right.Or would you feel better if nothing was said, and a container carrying bio chemicals exploded in downtown USA? Or maybe someone works on the inside for a big railroad, and switches tracks just as a Amtrak train is hijacked, and runs head on into a frieght train, or even worse, another Amtrak?Too far fetched? Tell that to the people on those planes when hijackers took over and flew with percision into thier targets.Like you said, if your going to do it, do it with percision. It is better to be safe than sorry. One day, we are going to assume we are out of harms way, and the next thing you know, we'll be attacked again. These people are not stupid, they won't use airplanes again, they will go after something so large, so un-protected, it will be next to impossible to prevent it.....Choo-Choo.I'm not flaming you or bashing you, but your post is not well thought out, and borders on lame and stupid.Just my 2 cents worth.ChrisIt's not a game, it's a way of life.

http://groups.msn.com/tehachapi

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Actually, I have to agree with Precision.I live right behind the Springfield Terminal here in Waterville. I watch the guys as they work and work hard. The yard is open, hell, you can go down and walk all over at ANY time. Those guys are vulnerable, very vulnerable. What better way to strike a blow below the belt than to do something in a small city like Waterville, or in the Heartland of America with a train from a yard such as the one here. Remember McVeigh? Think of all that he had in that truck/van in a train barrelassing through an area, city, town, anywhere USA, think of the men who day in and day out work hard and no one is there making sure they are safe.His post is right on the mark. He worries that someone may use his train or another to harm others. Look at the damn yard behind my house with all those cars and no security at all and you tell me they are taking it seriously enough.





"When you are with me I'm free
I'm careless, I believe
Above all the others we'll fly
This brings tears to my eyes
My Sacrifice"--Creed

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LAST EDITED ON Oct-26-02 AT 01:48 PM (EDT)

As for the "crying wolf" angle.... it's quite possible that too many false alarms could
dull the effectiveness of the alerts. An example, a couple years ago it became the
policy of several local counties to blow tornado warning sirens anytime it 'appeared'
a tornado was near. Even when there was no real confirmation of a tornado. Any
radar image from the weather service, or even local TV stations that even remotely
showed the possibility of a big storm was enough to have authorities activate all civil
defense sirens over a 3 county area. In 2 years time, dozens of warnings and siren
activations were issued, but there was never a tornado touchdown, or even
confirmation in most cases. It got to the point that when the sirens were sounded
people continued about their business as usual, never taking any precautions or
shelter. Because of this, the weather service started the move to be a bit more
accurate in warnings with more checks and balances to determine if a full blown
tornado alert was really needed. I think it';s human nature to gradually disregard
repeated warnings, whether tornado, terrorist, or anything, that turn out to be
unfounded. After a while the warnings become just part of the monotonous buzz
that's in the news every day.As for local railroad security, it is MUCH tighter than it was a year ago, and if in or
around the local yards and shops, one sees many new or changed policies or checks
implemented. From guarded entry gates to additional lighting, even to where
trains are stopped for maintenence and crew changes.Let's hope it doesn't come to this......

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Hey Precision Drive a big truck near a military base and you will know how serious they take it. I did that the other day on a postal run to Oklahoma City. It wasn't very pretty. After checking me out, they let me go. The postal hub was right next to the base and I was not in a postal vehicle.nuf saidChuck Hebert
Chuck@jarc.biz

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Well I was referring to the fact that so many have been issued that some of the RR officials are starting to say "Uh yeah ok, whatever."
And in the event that one does happen, it would catch everyone sittin on their ass. Im not saying that it will happen, but what im saying is that a line of $#!t can be fed as a trap to catch the public off guard. But as usual, I knew i'd get a answer like the first poster stated. Oh well, I guess thats train sim for you.

If you're gonna do it, do it with precision.

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LAST EDITED ON Oct-27-02 AT 03:18 AM (EDT)

Day in and day out, I see it.Every time I go to and from the store, I stop by the tracks, watching the train yard.Oh, look at that nice lashup of 3 GP40-2W's in fresh paint, idling by the road..And that bunch of tank cars behind it..Hmm..Whaddoo they got today..Ah..Propane..Oxyacetylene..some more -ane's and -enes and hexawhateverhydrofluorides...Hmm..What's this? Liquified Oxygen? Liquified Sulphur? Kept under pressure? Wow!
(I'm not a rocket scientist, but couldn't that stuff make one?)Um..Hey? Where's the crew?!-------------------------Luckily for them, that's where some cops spend their break in their cruisers, chattin to each other over coffee and donuts..Sometimes..

"Be Excellent To Each Other."

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Some of us live near Dow, in Midland, where they daily ship by rail in tankcars lots of hazardous stuff.Can you imagine if one of those car loads of certain chemicals ever ruptured due to a serious derailment? It almost happened several years ago during a derailment. The car was next to a burning car of trichlorosilane up in Freeland. That car kept an evacuation area closed for a week. Had the car of acrlyonitrile ruptured, there would have been a deadly cloud of cynide gas to contend with.trichlorosilane is used in the production of semiconductor grade silicon for electronics and computer chips. The other car's contents is a raw material for plastics, superglue, and other chemicals.A deliberate attack on a chemical train could be very serious. You only have to look at the thousands that died in Bipol, India, due to an industrial accident there years ago.The danger is not from the train eiter. Many of those same hazardous chemicals are hauled by tank truck on the highways daily. Trichlorosilane and hydrochloric acid are shipped daily through where I live to the Corning plant in the Township where they make the semiconductor grade silicon for the electronic industry. (Security is always very tight there including their own fire and police department.)The alerts are proper. However, if they don't stop crying wolf so often, the one that needs our attention may end up being ignored.SRV Ron

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