A highly unusual derailment of a freight train carrying hazardous materials (chlorine) has caused the closure of Amtrak routes through Amherst and to points North, severed critical fiber optic communication lines, and forced the indefinite closure of a major road.
In the wake of Osama’s extermination, Taliban from Pakistan have threatened increased attacks on Amtrak facilities and other soft targets throughout America. Wikileaks have revealed that many have come here ‘undercover’ to arrange, supervise, and monitor such operations.
Accident or Sabotage?
Statistics experts from the Five Colleges have confirmed that it is virtually impossible for a catastrophic event to cause failure of train tracks directly under a passing train at a location that would not only disable train service, but block a major highway and sever communication lines. The perpetrators may have also intended that the wreck would destroy train cars carrying chlorine, which would have caused a major disaster.
Chlorine gas has also been used by insurgents against the local population and coalition forces in the Iraq War in the form of chlorine bombs.Fortunately Allah prevented such a tragedy.
“Coomes said the 51-car freight train was headed south when it derailed somewhere around the Station Road crossing. The 35 cars in front of the derailment were disconnected and continued south, and the cars in the rear that are still on the track were to be taken north to the next station on Tuesday night, Coomes said.”
Dr. Hazratji, the president of the nearby Hampshire mosque, urged local Muslims to obey the Qur’an by remembering that ‘violence and warfare’ were ‘ordained and prescribed for them, whether they liked it or not’.
Station Road Train Derailment – from Amherst MA website
Accident or Sabotage?
On Tuesday May 31, 2011 at 2:01 PM the Amherst Emergency Dispatch Center dispatched police and fire units to a reported train derailment on Station Road. Upon arriving on scene, responding personnel found seven (7) derailed train cars at the railroad crossing on Station Road. There were no injuries nor any spills or releases of materials being transported by the train. The cars that derailed were open top “gondola” or “billet” cars and were transporting steel billets.
The railroad crossing at Station Road is completely blocked by one 65 foot long gondola car. New England Central Railroad, awaiting the arrival of specialized heavy equipment, will begin recovering the derailed cars on Wednesday morning at approximately 10:00 AM. Station Road will remain closed throughout the recovery operation. The Rail Trail will also be closed from Station Road to Southeast Street and from Station Road to Belchertown.
Also damaged in the incident was a Sprint fiber optic transmission cable. Sprint personnel already on the scene are working to repair the cable.
more …
Train derailment causes heavy damage
Train derailment closes Station Rd in Amherst
Train derails in Amherst – WGGB
related …
Jan 18, 2011 – Explosives cache found in Belchertown
Nov 9, 2010 – Student found ‘suicided’ in Belchertown
July 2010 – FBI ups reward for information about train sabotage
This is ridiculous. There’s no conspiracy here. The May Amherst derailment was not highly unusual. Stuff happens.
Trains are many times safer than road transport (that’s one reason the chlorine takes the rail in the first place). Since there were no injuries, this incident didn’t change that record (if it had been a truck that jacknifed, it’s unlikely there would be no injuries). And note that even if a tank car of chlorine HAD derailed, puncture is unlikely, since haz-mat tank cars are built with attention to safety, including double tanks. Still, stuff happens. Safe is not the same thing as no risk at all.
Could it have been sabotage? Yes, it’s possible, but pretty improbable. The opinions of “five college statistics experts” (unnamed) are irrelevant. If the Taliban wanted to carry off a major terrorist incident in the United States, do you really think they would choose Amherst, Massachusetts? Me thinks you are a little full of yourself — Amherst does not count for much in the world stage of publicity. Do you really think they would target a secondary main line with only two trains a day (in each direction)? And the reference to a major highway is just over the top. Amherst doesn’t HAVE a major highway! Also, while this train might have carried chlorine, it’s not a regular occurrence on this route. If someone was thinking of using chlorine in an attack, this is not the place to look!
Your writing throws in unnecessary inflammatory statements that have no relation to the incident and don’t follow from one another. Using a chlorine tank car for a terrorist attack is not a logical progression from the alleged use of chlorine gas by an Iraq dictator who had no relation to al quida. The alleged comments of the mosque President could be only about the human condition, nothing in them implies terrorism and they certainly have no relation to a train derailment.
There are plenty of real dangers we face as US citizens. Poor diet and exercise, for example, leads to an early death for more than 400,000 people a year. Infections caught in hospitals kills 84,000 people a year. Auto accidents kill 44,000 people a year. Trucks kill 4,000 people a year. In fact, every year more people are killed by law enforcement than were killed in the biggest terrorist incident we’ve ever had a country. We need to get some perspective here. Throwing around fear is counter-productive.