Passenger Trains and Subways

Passenger Trains and Subways are vulnerable to terrorist attacks . Public transit systems in several major cities, including London, Paris, Tokyo, New York and Jerusalem have been targeted by terrorists over the years. The following examples highlight the multifaceted ways by which these systems were attacked or threatened:

• United Kingdom The vulnerabilities associated with public transit where particularly exploited by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) in Great Britain, which after scattered attacks throughout the 1960s and 1970s , methodically targeted Rail Lines, stations and trains between 1991 and 1998. During that period, 41 improvised explosive devices detonated causing three deaths and  injuries to 115 individuals. The economic costs-one hoax in February 1991 cost an estimated 49 million pounds -of these attacks was compounded by the cost of the measures taken as a result of 6762 bomb threats (although fewer than two percent where taken seriously) and the inspection of 9525 suspicious items. The most memorable attacks against the bus and rail systems occurred in 1996, when a bomb on a double Decker buss killed one and injured eight passengers. Near Trafalgar Square, and a bomb under a railway bridge in the Dock Lands killed two and inured more than a hundred people. Casualties overall where not very high as a result of all these attacks, but could have been had if not been, in part, for effective security measures and responses.
• France Surface transportation systems where attacked 22 times by terrorists between 1970 and 1995. In 1995, Algerian terrorists embarked on a new campaign to punish France for its support of the Algerian government and targeted surface transportation systems four times, killing seven and injuring 80 people in a single attack against a train near the Saint Michelle Station in Paris o 23 July 1995. The three other incidents involved the explosion of a bomb in a train couch, another at the entrance to a metro station, and one being discovered on the tracks of the TGV's (high speed train) linking Paris to Lyon. For several weeks after the Saint Michelle attack, there where about 50 interruptions of passenger service a week because of bomb alerts and the discovery of suspicious packages. After a 15 month hiatus caused by France's Operation Vigipirate which successfully curtailed the Algerian terrorist network, surface transportation was hit again on 4 December, 1996. That day, a bomb exploded in a regional train station in Paris, killing two (a Moroccan and a Canadian, both French nationals) and injuring 86 people, including a Canadian.
• Japan. In March 1995, Aum Shinrikyo religious extremist's released sarin (a nerve gas) in the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 and forcing 5500 to seek medical care. According to Argonne and Sandia National Laboratories scientists, 'the release of a biological agent in a subway could lead to the exposure of more than 100,000 people, counting those in the Subway and those in the city above'. The psychological impact of the attack was considerable, with fear turning into impatience towards the authorities. Additionally, the attack was followed by at least seven other attacks involving chemicals, numerous copycats, false alarms and threats, perpetrated or threatened by disturbed individuals or criminals. The technical incompetence of the perpetrators and luck prevented a bigger tragedy from happening.
• United States. In July 1997 the Police in New York City arrested three individuals who where assembling pipe bombs, one of whom, Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, was connected to Canada. Abu Mezer had reportedly made the bombs and provided information to the others on how they could be detonated or disarmed. A Canadian refugee claimant known to have resided in Toronto and Vancouver, Abu Mezer said that the bombs where to be used against the New York City subway. Abu Mezer, who had been charged for criminal offences in Canada, use of a stolen credit card and assault with intent to resist arrest; sexual assault (and caught several times crossing the Canada-US border).
• Israel. Over the years, Israeli busses where attacked in several ways: bombs where hidden or strapped to a suicide bomber before exploding; car-bombs where used against: school buses; small-arm fire was opened; fire bombs where hurdled; busses where hijacked and bombs detonated at buss stations. Over the last six months, four major attacks against the buss system where noted:
  • On 16 July, Palestinian militants detonated an explosive devices and assaulted a buss in the west bank, killing eight and injuring over twenty people;
  • On 4 August, the Islamic resistance movement (HAMAS) detonated bombs at the front of the buss, killing ten and injuring over 40 soldiers;
  • On 21 October, Islamic Jihad detonated a car-bomb near a bus, killing eight and injuring 45 people;