German investigators are still puzzling over an apparent attempt to derail a high-speed inter-city train yesterday:
A HIGH-speed train driver braked to avoid derailing after spotting slabs of metal attached to tracks near the western German city of Dortmund, authorities said on Sunday.No suspects or motives yet. Der Spiegel has photos and indicates that whoever did this must have planned the operation carefully. There was only an 18 minute window between successive trains on that stretch of track.None of the InterCityExpress train's 200 passengers were injured in the incident, which happened early Saturday morning. The six metal slabs, weighing 17.5 kilos each, had been screwed onto tracks between the towns of Kamen and Nordboegge, on a line that links Cologne with Berlin.
French trains targeted, then most recently, the Spanish AVE narrowly averted disaster when they found dynomite on its track (not to mention the massacre on the Spanish commuter trains on 3-11), and now this. Should I be surprised if all of this is connected?
I hope officials in the US are taking necessary measures to protect our trains and buses.
Posted by: CS on April 4, 2004 05:32 PM