So two women face federal terrorism charges for placing shunts on tracks in Washington state. Article. Another article.
To quote one article in turn quoting the federal Justice Dep't: "women accused of terrorism after a 'shunt' was placed on train tracks in Whatcom County, an act that could cause a train to derail or decouple, endangering the public, according to the U.S. Department of Justice." Which makes it sound like a derail.
But the articles state that a "shunt disrupts the low level electrical current on the tracks and can disable various safety features.” Doesn't a shunt, or jumper-cabling one track to the other, complete the track circuit in the same way an actual train does, creating a "phantom" train on the signaling system? In other words, doesn't a shunt trigger safety features rather than disabling them?
If so, intentionally disrupting traffic by lowering crossing gates and dropping red track signals for non-existent trains is certainly sabotage of a sort and some kind of crime, but not destructive or dangerous to life and limb as the DOJ spins it. It seems like it would be "gumming up the works" sabotage rather than "destroying things" sabotage.
I'm particularly puzzled by "There were at least 10 different occasions where shunts were placed on the track near enough to a roadway to potentially cause crossing signal and crossing arm malfunctions, including failure to block traffic when a train was oncoming. On at least two occasions, individual shunts have interfered with multiple roadway/railway signals." While shunting would affect crossing gates and signals, wouldn't it block traffic for a non-existent train rather than failing to block traffic for a real oncoming train as claimed?
To quote one article in turn quoting the federal Justice Dep't: "women accused of terrorism after a 'shunt' was placed on train tracks in Whatcom County, an act that could cause a train to derail or decouple, endangering the public, according to the U.S. Department of Justice." Which makes it sound like a derail.
But the articles state that a "shunt disrupts the low level electrical current on the tracks and can disable various safety features.” Doesn't a shunt, or jumper-cabling one track to the other, complete the track circuit in the same way an actual train does, creating a "phantom" train on the signaling system? In other words, doesn't a shunt trigger safety features rather than disabling them?
If so, intentionally disrupting traffic by lowering crossing gates and dropping red track signals for non-existent trains is certainly sabotage of a sort and some kind of crime, but not destructive or dangerous to life and limb as the DOJ spins it. It seems like it would be "gumming up the works" sabotage rather than "destroying things" sabotage.
I'm particularly puzzled by "There were at least 10 different occasions where shunts were placed on the track near enough to a roadway to potentially cause crossing signal and crossing arm malfunctions, including failure to block traffic when a train was oncoming. On at least two occasions, individual shunts have interfered with multiple roadway/railway signals." While shunting would affect crossing gates and signals, wouldn't it block traffic for a non-existent train rather than failing to block traffic for a real oncoming train as claimed?