Post by bobWhich point is that? The only function served by scanning baggage and
people on Eurostar trains is security theatre. All of the incidents
of terrorist attacks on railways in the last 30 years that I can think
of have been on crowded urban and commuter networks.
There have been attacks on long distance trains in Italy, by the Mafia and
by right-wing terrorists associated with NATO stay-behind cells (a
convenient source of explosives).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italicus_Express_bombing_1974
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_904_bombing
The interesting part is, that nobody in Italy suggested such silly scheme
as UKs Eurostar checks after these attacks.
When trade unions of the Italian left traveled south, a record number of
bombs was planted on the railway by right-wing terrorists:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1972_bombings_in_Italy
Interesting is, that after getting bombed, they brought the injured to
hospital, boarded another train, and went on. Probably the best way to
deal with terrorists! (Because terror does not work by killing the few,
but by threatening the many, and stops working when the many refuse to
obey.)
Another observation: Trains are extremely sturdy objects in bomb attacks.
Even major bombs blasting away a whole carriage did not derail the running
gear, limiting the casualties by a huge margin. This was also shown by
Carlos' attack on a TGV.
The most deadly attack on a train happened in Angola, because the
attackers did not bother to put anybody or anything into the train, but
instead, stopped the train, walked out the passengers, and machine-gunned
them. That's the way to maximize the number of casualties!
This attack wasn't performed by terrorists, but by freedom fighters. If
trained and armed by the USA, it's freedom fighters, right?
Hans-Joachim
--
Though, there are those that do think that burying Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon
under 200 feet of molten lava might be a good opportunity to start over.
Glen Labah in mtra