Sabotage found in B.C. train collision

KING5.com (Northwest News) ^ | April 30, 2002 | The Associated Press

[grimalkin]

SPARWOOD, British Columbia - A train collision resulted in more than $640,000 damage, and railroad investigators believe sabotage was the cause.

A reward of about $640,000 has been offered by Canadian Pacific Railway for information on the collision, which damaged two trains and injured an engineer and a conductor near this southeastern British Columbia town.

Railroad officials said a loaded sulfur train, parked Saturday night on a side track, was started and moved about 175 feet, causing the engine to protrude onto the main line.

An empty coal train heading west hit the sulfur train at about 4 a.m. Sunday.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police have appealed to the public for information.

Mark Seland, a railroad spokesman, said moving the sulfur train required extensive knowledge of train mechanics.

"That can't be done by people like you and me," Seland said. "The reason we say this was a criminal act and not an accident is that it would have taken considerable effort to move that train."

[demnomo]

Awful lot of train "accidents" lately. Ya think they might be terrorist-related? I know that train accidents are nothing new, but several in a two week period is rather unusual, IMHO...

[Thinkin' Gal]

Muslims

>>>Even before World War I (1914-18) the Bedouins of the adjacent desert areas attacked the railway, which challenged their control over the pilgrims' route to the holy places from the north. When the Arabs of the Hejaz revolted against Turkish rule in 1916, the track between Ma'an and Medina was put out of operation by Arab raids, largely inspired by T.E. Lawrence. After the war the operative sections of the track were taken over by the Syrian, Palestinian, and Transjordanian governments. The section of the railway running from Ma'an, Jordan, to Medina was heavily damaged and was abandoned after 1917. Plans to restore the line in the 1960s were not fulfilled. <<<

http://www.n-o-m-a-d-s.demon.co.uk/hijazy.html

[T. P. Pole]

...or somebody forgot to set the park brake...

[Deguello]

Sounds more like the Engineers are Union and park their trains when their shift is done no matter where they are.

This is the case very often in the US where as the engineers "forget" to set the brakes and the trains roll, sometimes for several miles or several hours.

[dighton]

"Charge, men! But try to avoid bloodshed! I mean kill
them . . . but don't hurt them! I mean nothing messy!
INTERNAL INJURIES ONLY! INTERNAL INJURIES ONLY!"

[pabianice]

Been wondering about those two collisions in two days in the US, too...

[null and void]

Hmmm. Coal, sulfur, and where was the potassium nitrate train???

[Grut]

...or somebody forgot to set the park brake...

Or there's always drink....

[Thinkin' Gal]

English, at first I had my doubts about you! But by going all those miles across the desert to rescue a camel, you have proven yourself! I now accept you for what you are - a NUT! Here, put on these Arab clothes! You are one of us!

Thanks for that link, dighton!

[Squawk 8888]

Sounds more like the Engineers are Union and park their trains when their shift is done no matter where they are.

Not necessarily union- the Railways Act imposes strict limits on the duty hours of train crews and going just one minute beyond the limit can result in firing, fines, and even imprisonment. I've seen full passenger trains parked 500m short of the station because the crews could not legally move them along.