Lt. Col. Oliver North is warning that the rail transit system for commuters and passengers across America, as well as its rail freight components, are vulnerable to terror attacks.
In a new NRA video program called “Life of Duty,” North cites the terror attack on Madrid’s rail system that left nearly 200 people dead. The terrorists who delivered about a dozen bombs that exploded one morning during a commute later blew themselves up as authorities approached.
The program describes the potential for terror attacks on America’s public transportation systems, their vulnerabilities, and the realistic training being provided to first responders.
Watch the video below as North analyzes the danger:
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He notes that rail lines carry 3.5 billion people a year, 30 times more than those who travel by air, even while the security for rail facilities is only a fraction that provided at U.S. airports.
But a special training center, The Center for National Preparedness, located inside a West Virginia mountain tunnel that used to be part of the West Virginia Turnpike, offers training scenarios like those offered nowhere else.
North notes that the attack in Madrid was on passenger service, but in America, because of the way the rail lines were built, trains often now carry hazardous or dangerous materials directly through the heart of major metropolitan areas.
In Denver, for example, rail lines actually front the parking lot for the stadium used by the NBA’s Nuggets, and are only a hundred yards from the stadium where the NFL Broncos play.
“It’s the kind of thing terrorists look at and say that’s a vulnerability,” he said.
