1995 Palo Verde, Arizona derailment

The cable stop of Arizona took place on 9 October 1995, near the small town of Palo Verde in the U.S. state of Arizona, as a passenger train of the railway company Amtrak derailed, because until now, unknown perpetrators had solved rail bolts and moved a piece of track. One person died and 78 others were seriously injured.

Expiration

Misfortune

Compared 1:40 clock at night happened the front with 268 passengers Amtrak Sunset Limited on the route from Miami to Los Angeles a slight curve at a speed of about 80 km / h when he hit the groomed track section and consequently the two locomotives and several wagons on a 4.5 meter high bridge into a dry river bed collapsed. An employee of the train crew died, 78 more inmates were injured, at least a dozen of them seriously. The accident site was accessible only bad, so emergency personnel arrived at the scene only after some delay.

In a later study of the track section affected by the sabotage, it turned out that the perpetrator or perpetrators must have been familiar with the safety mechanisms of the railway company. By the rails on the route, a current flow is fed, which is used as an indicator for the functionality of the circuit. If the current flow is interrupted, all set at the track located signals to stop at and so prevent an accident. In the attack on the Sunset Limited, contact at the dissolved rail section by means of a wire was bypassed, so that the current could continue to flow and the emergency mechanism is not triggered.

Claim of responsibility and perpetrators

A passenger who had left the train crashed, took place shortly after the accident near the scene of the accident, a claim of responsibility, in which a group called " Sons of the Gestapo " ( " Sons of the Gestapo " ) known for the attack. The note created with a typewriter took critical with respect to the Government of the United States, local law enforcement agencies of Arizona as previously effected on the two years of siege of the headquarters of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect in Texas, which resulted in a fire 76 people died came life.

Despite extensive investigations no offender could be determined today. It was also considered that it is the letter of confession found to be a red herring, which should cover up the actual perpetrators and the signing grouping has thus never existed. In addition to the assumption that it could be at the stop of a right-wing extremist group, even the act of a disgruntled railway employee was not precluded by the necessary knowledge of the track system and the bridging of the security mechanism.