BNSF Railway, Seattle TV station dispute train safetyPublished: November 9, 2011
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway is pushing back against a Seattle TV station whose camera crews boarded unoccupied trains and suggested they could become terrorist targets. The railroad said it’s “appalled” that KOMO TV crews entered a restricted area without permission.
The report, aired with campy horror-movie background music and police-camera footage of a distant exploding tank car in a yard accident, suggests terrorists could commandeer a train and use it as a weapon.
“[T]hese are a potential weapon of mass destruction,” Minnesota attorney Bill Jungbauer told the TV station. “[Terrorists] could do so much. They could kill so many people.”
BNSF pushed back against the report, noting Jungbauer is neither an expert on rail operations nor homeland security. “Mr. Jungbauer stands to financially benefit from disparaging the railroad’s reputation and tainting jury pools in the Seattle area,” the railroad said in a statement.
BNSF added that even though the trains are unoccupied and unlocked, they’re secured against movement by multiple means. “[T]here are numerous ways to immobilize a parked train, such as removing essential equipment, tying down handbr
The TV station has to be completely tone deaf to think they can just climb on board in pursuit of their story. BNSF might even make a case that the media charge is unfounded and has damaged the company.
I’d be thinking both criminal and civil cases would result from this. Now I had read every single comment in the thread that has the video, and many normal people even seem aware of the stupidity of the news station in making that story. in addition are BNSF’s comments near the bottom. I also found a couple other goodies. A site somebody posted for one of their replies, as well as a couple extra pics not featured on the slideshow:
EDIT (correct photo displayed)-Photo “6” is really something, eh? I don’t see any blood, so hopefully noone was inside that. I’m not surprised they didn’t want that on in their slideshow, heh.
Also, I clicked through to another story on that news station’s site. You guys should check this out. Now, it’s just like any other missing, murdered woman, but look at how KOMO does it. Smashed face picture, bad Engrish…it’s a good example of the “quality” work at their station.
[:-,] Gee, maybe next those intrepid TV reporters can try to replicate this stunt with other modes of transportation by just climbing into an idling truck at a nearby truck stop, going on board a ship tied to the quay in the Port of Seattle, bluffing their way into the cockpit of a cargo plane at the Sea-Tac airport, and then sneaking into the cockpit of a C-130 Hercules or C-5A Galaxy at a nearby Air Force base . . . Let me know how they make out with those - esp. the last 2 - OK ? [sigh]
Actually, they have a good point. Yes, they trespassed to get pictures of the inside of the cab, and yes, the spokesman for the railroad was completely lame, but if the film crews could board, so could anyone else, especially somebody who knew how to start a train moving after removing the chains which some railroads put on the wheels, and so forth. All somebody would have do to to gain that knowledge is buy a Train Simulator game from Steam, especially if the train has been left running. Good for the FRA.
As edblysard and other point out. The options for damage are relatively limited in most cases.
Lets face it: Tresspass is against the law!
Simply put, Boarding a train without authorization is an illegal act.
Punishable under LAW.
The act of boarding a train with a camera crew is nothing more than a documentation of an illegal act. There are no excuses for that act. The Station as an employer, is liable for the act of its employees.
Time fr the Railroad (BNSF) to sick their lawyers on the station. [2c]
First, this is an inexcusable, irresponsible, and illegal act on the part of the reporters and the station. Second, yeah, but so what? Trains layover, are yarded, stop and are accessable virtually everywhere. So are trucks and even some airplanes and ships. So, what have they proven? Third, assuming they don’t know squat about railroading, how it works, what the applicances from below grade to the top of any piece of equipment, how seriously should they be taken? Unfortunatey since 99% of the population is as ignorant about trains and railroading as they are, they will be taken too seriously.
So, they tresspassed, violated laws, and should be prosecuted and held responsible for their acts. The product of these acts, the news report, has to be taken at value of what it revealed. BNSF by all means should have a chance to refute and explain and attempt to educate the public even if they take it to another station to do so.
The first question to be asked of any reporter or station manager involved is to cite the first rule of safety of railroading. If they can’t recite it, they can’t be taken seriously in court.
In a way, I think BNSF has had a hand in bringing this on themselves. Lately, the industry has been out front in demonstrating their heightened security, which they loudly proclaim to be a response to the threat of terrorism. They base this concern on the fact of hazmat shipments in high tonnages, over unsecured routes. However, in my opinion, they are not as large of a terrorist target that they think they are.
There is no question that certain freight trains would make a formidable bomb. But the problem is how to deliver it. The aim of terrorists is to cause death in areas of high population density, so it creates the maximum panic, mayhem, and terror. I don’t see how you pull that off with a train. It is easy to pull off with an airplane because you can put the plane right into a high-density population target. So we have real security surrounding the boarding of planes.
The 9/11 terrorists didn’t steal planes from the ramp - they let somebody else get it going for them.
While there are certain areas that could be threatened by a trainload of methyl ethyl awful, as has been pointed out, getting the product “on target” is tough. It’s not like one can simply take the next off-ramp, as has been pointed out.
If one wants to liken the incidents that have occured - Kingman, Oneonta, Crescent City, Baltimore, Tiskilwa, etc, to potential terrorist acts, it’s clear that while such an incident will be bad locally, it’s nothing we haven’t dealt with before, with no “terrorist” help at all.
This discussion brings to mind an incident I think back in the 80’s which underscored how little the public knows about trains. .Several hijacked a Port Authority Trans Hudson Train…PATH train, Hudson and Manhatten Tube, a rapid transit line between Manhatten and New Jersey. They hijacked the train heading toward Newark, NJ and demanded clearence, etc., to I think Miami! As for terrorism…we are being terrorized just by the thought…no one has to do anything as we are in fear of everything and everyone and stand ready to believe every unattended bag is a bomb and anybody we don’t like the looks of is a terrorist ready to destroy us. Too often the one’s perpertrating this fear are those we should be turning to for comfort and protection.
Where is the “investigative reporting” piece about the potential disaster if someone stole a gasoline, anhydrous ammonia, or propane truck?
Of course, it helps to understand such ‘reporting’ when one realizes that what you see on tv often isn’t ‘news’, it’s just infotainment, designed solely to bring in viewers. You may notice an increase of such items this month as November is a “sweeps” month, where stations measure viewership and base their advertising rates on the viewership this month. If you pay attention, you will likely notice how many ‘news’ stories will have to do with either sex or sensationalism or terrorism (best of all if they can combine two or more hot topics in one story: "Transvestite Transylvanian terrorists threaten to explode the earth using babies as ammunition; film at 11 ).
What’s not been mentioned is that the trains involved or mentioned are pretty routine - sulfuric acid in the one that the KOMO news crew boarded, flammable liquified petroleum gas (LPG) near the oil refineries, and ordinary haz-mats in general. None of it is stuff you’d want to drink, get on your skin, or be near if it caught fire or went BOOM! for sure, but the reality is that the risk of injury and death is confined to a pretty small area and number of people for any of those, even in a worst-case scenario.
Notably missing from the article (as far as I could see, anyway) is any mention of the much more serious TIH = Toxic Inhalation Hazards, such as chlorine gas (or Larry’s “methyl ethyl awful”). Those truly have the potential for causing a widespread disaster, with casualties in the hundreds to thousands, depending on where, when, and how. But notice that this report doesn’t mention those by category or name, or say that they were able to board a train with that kind of cargo. Did this news crew not know about that ? Were they just happy enough with the expose that they had already, and quit while they were ahead ? Could they not find an unattended train with TIH as a cargo ? What would have happened if they did, and had boarded ? Perhaps they’d have attracted more attention and a response then . . . [:-,] I seem to recall reading that there’s an FRA rule pending or in effect that no car with TIH can be left unattended, however that’s being interpreted and applied in the real-world of yards, terminals, trains being held out, parked on sidings, etc. . . . [:-^]
Lastly, when PTC is implemented in 3 -4 years, no train will be able to move far or fast near a mainline without authorization - the PTC will automatically stop or even “kill” the engine, as I understand it. That will leave low-speed yard collisions as the chief mayhem possible, and as Ed pointed out above,