{{Short description|Railway accident caused by sabotage}} [[File:Derailment 226-b-6082.webm|thumb|thumbtime=07:17|right|300px|A film from [[Camp Claiborne]] from March 8, 9 and 10, 1944 of derailment tests done on the [[Claiborne-Polk Military Railroad]]. The tests were done to better train allied personnel in acts of rail sabotage during [[World War 2]].]] '''Rail [[sabotage]]''' (colloquially known as '''wrecking''') is the act of disrupting a [[rail transport]] network. This includes both acts designed only to hinder or delay as well as acts designed to actually destroy a [[train]]. Railway sabotage requires considerable effort, due to the design and heavy weight of railways.
Sabotage must be distinguished from more blatant methods of disruption (e.g., blowing up a train, [[train robbery]]).
==Methods== ===Relay cabinet arson=== In 2022, setting fire to rail [[relay cabinet]]s that control track operations<ref>{{Cite web |title=Railway sabotage after 50 days of war in Ukraine: here is what we know |url=https://www.railtech.com/infrastructure/2022/04/15/railway-sabotage-after-50-days-of-war-in-ukraine-here-is-what-we-know/ |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=RailTech.com |date=15 April 2022 |language=en-GB}}</ref> was a common method of sabotage during the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]].
===Track obstruction=== ===Damage to infrastructure=== ;Notable instances * 1861: [[East Tennessee bridge burnings]] – [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] sympathizers destroyed nine railroad bridges in East Tennessee, on the orders of President Lincoln. The bridges were quickly rebuilt. * 1864: [[John Yates Beall]], a [[Confederate Navy]] officer, was discovered plotting to derail a Union passenger train and executed the following year. * 1880: [[Ned Kelly]] and his gang of [[bushranger]]s in Australia had railway tracks torn up to derail a police special train. The police were tipped off about the plot and later engaged the Kelly gang in a shootout, with Ned Kelly emerging as the only survivor. * 1905: [[20th Century Limited derailment]] - Although unconfirmed, the evidence pointed heavily to malicious involvement in the derailment of the [[New York Central Railroad]]'s crack passenger train, the ''[[20th Century Limited]]'', resulting in 21 deaths. * 1915: [[1915 Vanceboro international bridge bombing|Vanceboro bridge bombing]] – the [[Saint Croix–Vanceboro Railway Bridge]] (over the U.S.–Canada border) was bombed by German saboteurs, although the bridge was not fully destroyed and was quickly rebuilt. * 1939: [[1939 City of San Francisco derailment]] * 1942: [[Thamshavn Line sabotage]] – the [[transformer]] station for Norway's [[Thamshavn Line]] (an electric railroad) was blown up by Norwegian saboteurs during the [[German occupation of Norway|German occupation]]. * 1951: [[Huntly rail bridge bombing]] – a rail bridge near Mahuta, three miles from [[Huntly, New Zealand]], was severely damaged by dynamite charges during an [[1951 Waterfront dispute|industrial dispute]]. The sabotage was discovered after the bridge rocked noticeably as a slow moving morning passenger train came to rest across the bridge after braking for, and striking aside, warning sleepers laid across the track. Police believed it was an attempt to intimidate open-cast mine-workers who were not on strike.<ref name="Press26409">{{cite news |title=Explosion on Bridge |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19510501.2.45.6 |access-date=26 November 2022 |work=Press |via=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |agency=New Zealand Press Association |issue=26409 |volume=LXXXVII |date=1 May 1951 |location=Christchurch, New Zealand |page=6}}</ref><ref name="Richardson292">{{cite book |last1=Richardson |first1=Len |title=Coal, Class & Community: The United Mineworkers of New Zealand, 1880-1960 |date=1995 |publisher=Auckland University Press |isbn=978-1-86940-113-9 |page=292 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJTILvuFXwoC&pg=PA292 |access-date=26 November 2022 |language=en |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="Trove">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63140852 |title=SABOTEURS DYNAMITE RAIL BRIDGE |newspaper=[[Townsville Daily Bulletin]] |volume=LXXI |location=Queensland, Australia |date=1 May 1951 |access-date=15 May 2017 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> * 1995: [[1995 Palo Verde, Arizona derailment|Palo Verde derailment]] – a train in [[Palo Verde, Arizona]], was derailed by saboteurs shifting the rails out of position, causing one fatality. The case remains unsolved. * 2002: [[2002 Jaunpur train crash|Jaunpur train crash]] – a rail was broken and caused a train to derail, killing twelve people. An Islamic extremist organization was blamed. * 2002: [[Rafiganj train wreck]] – a train derailed on a bridge over a river in [[Bihar]], India, killing at least 130 people. A Maoist terrorist organization was blamed. * 2022–2023: [[Rail war in Belarus (2022–present)|Belarusian Rail War]] and the [[Rail war in Russia (2022–present)|Russian Rail War]] - rail sabotage campaigns carried out by Belarusian and Russian opposition and paramilitary groups opposed to the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]].
===Damage to trains===
===Intentional switch misalignments=== * 1982: An NJDOT commuter train crashes into a pasta factory in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, killing the engineer. Four youths who tampered with the switch were charged.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E5DF1538F933A05750C0A963948260 | work=The New York Times | title=THE REGION; Youths Sentenced In Train Crash | date=March 30, 1985 | access-date=May 8, 2010}}</ref> * 2024: On April 22nd, a BNSF coal train derailed and collided with a freight car on a siding in Bennett, Nebraska, after a switch was intentionally misaligned by a teenager who proceeded to film the accident.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.klkntv.com/teenage-railroad-enthusiast-to-be-charged-as-adult-in-bennet-train-derailment/?fbclid=IwY2xjawE4NdJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHUiCrSY77weePllm0wGzZ1-kFfHce3OePxU45MsyoWs7F5HvMOBr1xzRbg_aem_V5vuFXbXEx19rfEBDoHmkg | title=Teenage 'railroad enthusiast' to be charged as adult in Bennet train derailment | date=20 August 2024 }}</ref>
==Motivations== ===Vandalism=== *[[Greenock rail crash]] was caused by vandals.
===Internet clout=== * The April 2024 Bennet, Nebraska rail incident was caused by a teenager intentionally misaligning the switch and filming the crash.
===Extortion=== *[[Klaus-Peter Sabotta]] sabotaged trains and attempted to extort money to prevent sabotaging more.
===Terrorism===
*Both [[ISIL]] and [[Al-Qaeda]] have advocated for rail sabotage and have published detailed instructions for how to commit such acts.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Train Wrecks and Track Attacks: An Analysis of Attempts by Terrorists and Other Extremists to Derail Trains or Disrupt Rail Transportation | url=https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/1794_Jenkins_Train-Wrecks-Train-Attacks.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108164129/https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/1794_Jenkins_Train-Wrecks-Train-Attacks.pdf | archive-date=2018-11-08}}</ref>
*[[Rafiganj train wreck]]
*[[2001 Angola train attack]]
*There have been 41 rail sabotage incidents in [[Washington state]] since 2021, thought to be [[ecotage]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beaumont |first=Hilary |date=2021-07-29 |title=The activists sabotaging railways in solidarity with Indigenous people |url=http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/29/activists-sabotaging-railways-indigenous-people |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Oil Train Disaster Near Seattle May Have Been Caused By Sabotage |language=en |work=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/06/14/1006349452/oil-train-disaster-near-seattle-may-have-been-caused-by-sabotage |access-date=2022-06-26}}</ref>
===Military or resistance=== {{see also|French Resistance}} *[[Operation Washing]]
[[File:Simple Sabotage Field Manual.djvu|thumb|page=23|''[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Simple_Sabotage_Field_Manual Simple Sabotage Field Manual]'' published by OSS during World War 2 describes tactics for rail sabotage]]
==In popular culture== *''[[The Invisible Man (1933 film)]]'' *''[[The Wrecker (1929 film)]]''
==References== {{reflist}}
==See also== *[[Rail War]] *[[Railway sabotage during World War II]] *[[Stop the Wagons]] *[[Sherman's neckties]] *[[Railroad plough]]
[[Category:Rail sabotage| ]] [[Category:Rail transport|sabotage]] [[Category:Railway safety]]
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