What's stopping people from hijacking military trains?

[loathar]

I was drawn down on 3 times when I lived in Columbus. Once was mentioned above. The next was when I walked out my back door to see why there were 10 cops in my back yard at 2:00 a.m. and the third time I came over a hill in the road to see cop cars blocking the road with a chopper overhead in front of some rich family's home. A cop walked in front of my car, aimed at my head and told me to get my hands up and don't move. They held me and a few other cars this way for a few minutes, then got a radio call, jumped in there cruisers and sped off. No explanation. Nothing on the news that night. The only thing I can think is it might have been a kidnapping attempt. The family that lived there owned a very up scale nation wide restaurant chain.

[selector]

Fred, I can't lay any claim to expertise in the field of security, other than the training I received when I spent 11 years in the tank corps.  But, if I were bent on securing an intersection that had a high security component, I would not stop oncoming traffic in sight of that intersection, and certainly not using intimidation...it sends the wrong message at the wrong place and at the wrong time.  What I would do is secure the intersection a mile back so that traffic would never know what was happening where it counted, and it would be a simple blockade.  The heavy hand would be hidden around the next bend as an interception force.

 Just a different approach.

 -Crandell

[fwright]

Crandell

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.  I have to agree that security through intimidation is not the most effective policy against terrorism.  When the goal of the terrorist is to cause a loss of confidence and faith in the targeted government, the last thing the government needs to do is feed that loss of confidence (something we forget all too often).

Fred Wright 

[L Cowan]

Stop and think for a minute, even if you do hijack it and find a place to stop the train how do you get the darn stuff on the ground without a loading dock. You also need to have access to the end of a car to drive the stuff off. There isnt room to take it off the side unless its a tracked vehicle and if you do yhat you will probable lose the losd on adjacent cars. It would be easier on the black market.