Posted on 05/07/2011 12:18:31 PM PDT by STARWISE
Already on high alert because of the killing of Osama bin Laden, rail services in the Chicago area took extra steps Friday to protect their passengers after learning of terrorists’ scheme to derail a train in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security and FBI released an alert Thursday saying that since February 2010, al Qaeda was discussing a terrorist operation against trains, said Roderick Drew of the Chicago’s 911 center.
“There is no recent information indicating an active ongoing plot to target transportation, nor is there information on possible locations or specific targets,” Drew said.
After the alert was issued, Metra boosted its track inspections, said agency spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet. Metra is guarding against derailments by using “geometry cars” to ensure tracks are the proper width and “highliner” trucks to inspect the tracks, Pardonnet said.
In 2007, officials discovered that railroad spikes were missing from tracks on Metra’s Electric and South Shore lines. The FBI is continuing to investigate their disappearance. There’s a $50,000 reward for information leading to whomever is responsible, Pardonnet said.
Metra has also bolstered uniformed police patrols of its stations and platforms, as well as the use of bomb dogs, Pardonnet said.
Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority and Amtrak have been on high alert since U.S. Special Forces killed bin Laden at his home in Pakistan in a daring raid Sunday, officials said.
Plainclothes Chicago Police officers have been placed in uniform since Monday to increase their visibility, a department spokeswoman said.
Thursday’s alert warned of the possibility of an attack that could take place on a significant U.S. date such as Sept. 11 — the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attack.
The alert stemmed from a handwritten notebook from February 2010 that was recovered from the home of bin Laden. The notebook included passages about tampering with rail tracks to derail a train on a bridge, possibly on Christmas, New Year’s Day, the day of the State of the Union address or Sept. 11, the New York Times reported Friday.
Although the alert did not list any targeted cities, material gathered from bin Laden’s home indicated that al Qaeda was focused on striking Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, federal officials said.
Rest @ link
FBI investigating possible train track sabotage
A dozen railroad spikes reported missing from commuter tracks in Chicago
updated 9/27/2007
###
Excerpt:
CHICAGO — The FBI is investigating possible sabotage after a dozen railroad spikes were reported missing from a section of commuter train tracks on Chicago’s South Side.
The spikes hold down metal plates that bind the rails to wooden ties underneath.
If a sufficient number of spikes are removed in a contained location, there’s the potential for the rail to shift, which would lead to disastrous results and train derailment,” said Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Steve Kulm.
Metra workers discovered the missing spikes on Monday and notified police and federal authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, which investigates threats to planes and trains.
Checking ties to domestic violence case
The FBI said it was conducting a criminal investigation into “sabotage.” FBI spokesman Ross Rice said agents also were checking for possible connections to a domestic violence case involving a Metra engineer.
“No one has claimed responsibility or called in a threat,” Rice said. “No similar incident has been reported to us in the metropolitan area. This is a serious incident, and we are aggressively investigating.”
Gunshots were fired at two Metra trains on the same line in June, about two miles south of where the spikes were removed.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21014284/42854526
Related?
Police: IED Found Near Chester Train Tracks
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2716483/posts
...just goes to prove, they will target everyone - even where they have support.
I don't want to give specifics but am annoyed they bring this up again, maybe impossible to avoid if they start inspecting tracks and trains better; word would get out.
I've photographed a couple of train derailments, am kind of a free lancer, never thinking they could have been sabatoge at the time. They do just happen for whatever reason. But one in particular raises my suspicions now. I won't give specifics, but my photos show just how particularly terrible that one could have been on several levels. I'm inclined to think it wasn't terrorism and don't know what a subsequent investigation came up with.
I think a watchful public could be a tremendous help in brainstorming their own locality vulnerabilities. Look at all the close calls we've had and some we never may have found out about.
But, but Obama tells us we are “not in a war on terrorism”. Islam is a “great religion”. “We will never be at war with Islam”. Hmmmmm
“Look at all the close calls we’ve had and some we never may have found out about. “
Yes, there are MANY we never hear about.
Obama IGNORES all the warnings.
the infowarrior
Jeeeeze ... VAPORIZE EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE OF THESE EVIL BEASTS !!!!
Yes ! Awareness ... looking @ EVERYTHING in our view as we go about our day is SO critical now. Thank you for being alert! Keep it up.
And .. REPORT WHAT YOU FIND, IF IT’S SUSPICIOUS, TO THE FBI.
Beter safe ..
If nothing else can stop the liberal mania for “high-speed rail” and other billion dollar mass-transit boondoggles, maybe the threat of targeting by Muslim terrorists will.
Obummer is right. We will never be at war with Islam.
Trouble is they are at war with us with him enabling them every step of the way.
Sure he ignores all the warnings - the US can take another hit, as far as he’s concerned.
Yeah I am half expecting them to whip the populace into a frenzy with all this terror intel they got from Bin laden’s place.. and use it to justify TSA on every street corner frisking everyone that walks by.
A security guard, think he was the real deal, came up to me and told me if the (company manager) saw me, I'd be ESCORTED off the premises, never a footstep off public access. Huh? I've had several incidents like that.
As to notifying the FBI, I fear they would think I'm crazy, keep it to myself. I did once, but don't bother any more. I had to give my identity and social security number before they would take my report. I didn't really mind too much, but it appears they run some kind of check on informers as well as what you are informing them about.
One guy at the White House under Bush (somehow got routed there another time) was downright rude to me. And I'll share what that was. OK, I was on this weird, hard-to-find group because my friend was on there. Somebody tracked me there and just said hello with a strange Arabic-sounding name (profiling lol). I started running searches I know how to do, led me to all kinds of strange things. He was looking for girls in my area and elsewhere under variations of the same nym. So one of my searches on that individual led to a map of Egypt published in a .tk site which is somewhere in the South Pacific. I didn't know I could google domain names then and may or may not have found it again. I wish I'd done a screen capture and couldn't find the map in my browser cache. The person could have been anybody, but it raised all sorts of red flags POSSIBLY recruiting women. Anyway, I let him know I'd found the map, and it disappeared on the spot. I shouldn't have messed with him (or called anybody). The person just could have been a jerk, who knows? Plus I haven't seen anything suspicious for a long time now.
I don't think I ever posted anything that would arouse a security suspicion, but it occurred to me that the government has people out there to lure people in stings; we know they do for underage sex. I was chatting with an ex-cop on a nice group for something else and said I'd like to help the cops break up kiddie porn rings by looking for and saving anything I found. He warned me NOT to do that, so I never have. See, I'd be the one to get busted for trying to help and have a hard time exonerating myself.
It would be a cold day in hell before I'd ever report anything again, and I have no criminal record. So imagine how a lot of people would be about reporting anything? Well, I'd relent if I really thought anything was in imminent danger, better to make a fool of yourself than find out later you might have been able to prevent something. And I'm sure the authorities brainstorm things, too, I would hope anyway.
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