Tower collapse that halted trains may be sabotage
October 11, 2004
BY ROBERT HERGUTH Staff Reporter Advertisement
Authorities suspect sabotage was behind the collapse of two enormous electrical transmission towers in Wisconsin that halted Amtrak train service between Chicago and Milwaukee for much of the weekend.
That service should be normal today -- but investigators will be back to search for clues.
An FBI anti-terrorism task force is working with the Oak Creek (Wis.) Police Department in getting to the bottom of Saturday's tumbling of the two towers.
Nobody was hurt, but freight and passenger train service was halted until Sunday evening while crews cleared the power lines from the tracks -- the towers landed nearby -- and authorities collected physical evidence.
"At first we were hoping it was an accidental metal failure, but it's apparent one of the towers was tampered with: Bolts were removed from the plate that connects the legs to the base," said Thomas Bauer, police chief of the suburban Milwaukee community.
"We did locate physical evidence at the scene," Bauer said. "We'll return [today] where we'll continue to identify and collect evidence."
A freight train stopped 75 yards short of the wires Saturday and then sat there for more than 24 hours.
Airport loses power
The Hiawatha service between Chicago and Milwaukee was scuttled during that time, and shuttle buses were enlisted. Amtrak's Empire Builder also had to be adjusted, railroad officials said.
Milwaukee's Mitchell Airport, which is about a mile from where the nearly 50-year-old towers tipped, lost power for a while over the weekend.
The incident occurred just after U.S. Sen. John Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, landed at Mitchell.
"Who's to say if there's any connection?" said airport spokeswoman Pat Rowe.
The area where the apparent tampering happened was described by Bauer as "industrial and somewhat isolated."
An FBI official confirmed the agency's involvement in the investigation but gave no further details.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-amtrak111.html
I think about 8-10 months ago there were some news articles about a man seen loosening bolts on power lines - perhaps in IL? Anyone remember this?
Milwaukee outage was intentional
FBI, police investigate downed power towers
The Associated Press
MILWAUKEE — Authorities say they consider the falling of two high-voltage transmission towers that knocked out power for 17,000 customers, including the airport, the result of an intentional act.
“It definitely looks like they are tampered with,” Oak Creek Police Chief Thomas Bauer said Sunday.
Bolts were removed from a plate that connects the legs at the base of the towers, he said.
“It does look like it’s for the purpose of weakening the structure so it would fall,” the chief said. He refused to specify how many bolts were removed or how they were removed.
Police will continue collecting evidence today, Bauer said. The Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are involved in the case.
Police alerted law enforcement agencies in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin to be on the lookout for similar acts, the chief said.
One transmission tower fell on another one Saturday, which took out some We Energies distribution lines, officials said. The towers were owned by American Transmission Co.
Downed wires lay across railroad tracks Saturday night, putting passenger and freight trains of Amtrak and Canadian Pacific Railroad on hold for 26 hours, Bauer said.
The outage shut down screening equipment at General Mitchell International Airport on Saturday. Flights were delayed as passengers and luggage were hand screened.
The outage started at 5:40 p.m. and customers in parts of Cudahy, South Milwaukee, Oak Creek and Franklin areas were without power as of 7:30 p.m., said Wendy Parks, We Energies spokeswoman.
http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/local_18174435.shtml