Category: RAIL

The Belt Railway Company of Chicago — based in Bedford Park, Illinois, which is the largest switching and terminal railroad in the U. S. — is investigating a ransomware data theft by the Akira Ransomware gang. The ransomware gang claimed to have stolen 85 GB of data. Christopher Steinway, general counsel of Belt Railway, told Recorded Future News that it recently became aware that “a threat actor group posted on its website that it had obtained certain company information. The event did not impact our operations. We have engaged a leading cybersecurity firm to investigate the incident and are working with federal law enforcement” Steinway added, “Our investigation remains ongoing.”

Thirty people were killed and at least 90 others were injured when the Hazara Express train derailed in Pakistan on Sunday, August 6, near the town of Multan. The train departed Karachi in the southern part of the country and was traveling to Havelian in the northern part of the country. Local workers, paramilitary troops and railway workers teamed up to pull the injured passengers from the wreckage. Bodies of the deceased were pulled out as well and taken to a hospital. The derailment caused the tracks from Karachi, both inbound and outbound, to be closed. A relief train was sent to assist, according to railways minister, Khawaja Saad Rafique.

The Brussels Airport bombers were found guilty of terrorist murder seven years after suicide bomb attacks that killed 32 people at the airport and also at a metro station. The attacks occurred in March 2016 and were perpetrated by a group of six men, several of whom were already convicted of taking part in the earlier Paris terror attacks. Salah Abdeslam was found guilty in a French trial of the Paris bomb and gun attacks that happened in November 2015. Although he denied involvement in the Brussels airport attack, he has now been convicted of murder and attempted murder in Belgium, too. Mohamed Abrini was also found guilty of both bombings. Abrini confessed to participating in the attacks as well as to preparing explosives for the bombings. In addition, four others were found guilty of terrorist murder: Oussama Atar, Osama Krayem, Ali El Haddad Asufi and Bilal El Makhoukhi. The attacks happened on March 22, 2016 when two bombs went off just before 8:00 a.m. at opposite ends of the departures hall at Zaventem airport. Sixteen people died from the attack. About an hour later, an additional bombing occurred on a train at Maelbeek metro station in Brussels. Hundreds were wounded and 16 others perished.

A train derailed into the Yellowstone River in Montana on June 24 leading state agencies to warn people not to eat fish caught in the Yellowstone River in the area where the train, which was carrying chemicals, went off the tracks, according to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The department’s staff collected five mountain whitefish and five rainbow trout below the derailment site for contaminant testing as a follow-up to the incident. The derailment caused a bridge over the Yellowstone River to collapse, sending several cars into the water, Stillwater County officials said at the time. Phenanthrene was one of the chemicals in question and is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). PAHs are found in products such as oil, gas, plastics, and pesticides.

A New York City subway rider allegedly put another man in a chokehold which ultimately resulted in the man’s death. Daniel J. Penny, 24, a U.S. Marine veteran said he was acting to protect himself and other riders and never intended harm. Jordan Neely began acting strangely according to passengers and Penny put him in a chokehold. An altercation allegedly took place prior to the move. The incident occurred Monday, May 1, on a northbound F train, according to two law enforcement officials. “When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived,” lawyers for Penny said in a statement Friday evening. “Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.” Neely, 30, was unconscious when police arrived at the Broadway and East Houston Street subway station, and pronounced dead at a hospital, New York police said. He died from “compression of neck (chokehold)” and the manner was homicide, the city chief medical examiner’s office said. Penny was taken into custody Monday, questioned by police and released. No charges have been filed against him.

As many as 12 French police officers were injured during protests against the rail link in the Alps. Around 2,000 protesters were in the Maurienne Valley protesting the construction of a rail link that includes a tunnel between Lyon and the Italian city of Turin. There were reportedly “300 dark-clad hardcore” protesters who were said to be throwing rocks at riot police. The police sprayed tear gas and one protestor was wounded, Francois Ravier, the local prefect said at a news conference. The protestors said their count of injured was 50 demonstrators, including six who were hospitalized.

Emine Yilmaz Ozsoy was shoved against a speeding subway train on her way to work. A man pushed her head into the train as it pulled out of the Lexington Avenue/63rd Street station. She underwent two surgeries, after being violently battered by the rushing train. Ozsoy remained partially paralyzed, but was gathering strength and was reported to be cognizant of what happened. The attack was carried out by Kamal Semrade, 39. New York law enforcement officers were able to arrest him at a homeless shelter near La Guardia Airport in Queens, several days after the attack. He was charged with attempted murder and held without bail.

More than 280 people were killed and hundreds more injured when a passenger train derailed and struck two other trains in eastern India on June 1. The crash, in the state of Odisha, has renewed long-standing questions about safety problems in the system. Odisha’s chief secretary, Pradeep Jena, said that an additional 900 had been injured. Officials said they expected the toll to rise. The crash occurred when several cars derailed and collided with a second train, the train’s operator, South Eastern Railway, said in a statement.

Dozens of passengers were killed near Tempe, Greece, when two trains collided at high speed, head on. One train was carrying freight and the other carried passengers. Rescue crews searched for survivors through flattened cars as the wreckage smoked Wednesday, March 1. There were many additional passengers injured in the accident which some called the deadliest rail accident in Greece in a decade. “When something so tragic happens, it’s impossible to continue as if nothing had happened,” Kostas A. Karamanlis, Greek transport minister, said in a statement shortly after the accident as he announced he would resign. “It’s a fact that we inherited the Greek railway in a state that is not fitting for the 21st century,” he said. “In those three and a half years we made every effort to improve this reality. Unfortunately, those efforts were not adequate to avert such a tragedy.”