Container trains broken into in the US

[LOL The Irony]

An amazing video taken in Los Angles showing trackside littered with Amazon parcels stolen from passing container trains

https://twitter.com/i/status/1481770722271760384

The thieves break into containers when the trains are stopped or moving slowly, you can see in the video a container with its doors open, throw out the UPS packages then rip them open by the side of track taking things of value and dumping the rest.

Apparently the tracks were cleaned a month ago so that is the amount of stuff stolen in that time.

Welcome to LA. Homelessness and crime on the rise thanks to inept policy makers. One problem is in the summer, a dragging brake or hot axlebox around all that cardboard and plastic could easily result in a massive fire.

Here's another video showing how bad the situation is

 

[najaB]

Welcome to LA. Homelessness and crime on the rise thanks to inept policy makers.

I don't think it's as simple as inept policy makers. It's more that the system of governance is paralysed by political gamesmanship - the party in opposition is more concerned with pulling down the party in power than in actually working together to achieve anything useful.

 

[LOL The Irony]

I don't think it's as simple as inept policy makers. It's more that the system of governance is paralysed by political gamesmanship - the party in opposition is more concerned with pulling down the party in power than in actually working together to achieve anything useful.

The policy makers in Cali have, of their own accord, been introducing policies that directly contributed to and allowed the situation where these trains are being stolen from on an industrial level. You only have to look at the comments of that German in Venice video to see where the problem lies. Both sides of the house working together wouldn't do much in the way of fixing this.

 

[Meerkat]

The fence has a massive great hole in it, that you could drive a truck through! Compare that to the high palisade fencing along the District line in East London and its no surprise there are loads of thefts. That derailment looks a big boo boo - it hasn't actually derailed in the video - its just on two tracks at once!

 

[Giugiaro]

Bit of a problem when the train is 2 miles long. A bit of US justice required with armed guards scattered along the train perhaps?

Or maybe have the train equipped with gun turrets like with WWII era bombers.

In Britain we used to have bullion cars, where a passenger vehicle was converted to freight, but a compartment was retained to enable security guards to accompany the load. I wonder if such a vehicle might prove useful to counter the problem in California !

The US had cabooses which, while not having use nowadays, could be re-imagined as staffed security booths.
But then, staffing a train beyond the driver(s) starts to defeat the purpose of a minimally staffed train.
Ideally private companies are looking to completely remove the human element of transportation, instead of increasing it.

The issue isn't really on the train, but rather on the containers that are apparently too easy to breach.
There can't be any looting if the loot is inaccessible.

 

[GB]

- it hasn't actually derailed in the video - its just on two tracks at once!

It has derailed

 

[LOL The Irony]

It has derailed

And damaged track as well. They removed the train and repaired the track in about 2 days.

 

[pdeaves]

It has derailed

Because of all that detritus all over the track (as discussed above), it looks even worse than it is.

 

[Sunbird24]

Why don't they stack the containers with doors inwards and adjacent, that would make it a lot more difficult to break in. Or redesign the flats with solid shields across the doors.

 

[ac6000cw]

Why don't they stack the containers with doors inwards and adjacent, that would make it a lot more difficult to break in. Or redesign the flats with solid shields across the doors.

They are not 'flats' - the containers are normally carried 'double-stacked' with one stack per 'well' car, and the cars are normally articulated into 3 or 5 car sets (just look at any video of a US double-stack train).

This means they can't be positioned doors-to-doors as they can't be loaded next to each other - there is always a large gap between containers on adjacent cars.

When the bottom container in the stack is a 53 foot 'domestic' container (most of the containers on the train in the video at the start of this thread are 53 footers) that will occupy the full length of the well, so may be difficult/impossible to open, but the doors of the upper container on the stack would be accessible to someone prepared to climb up.

I guess the thieves are opening up any container they can, then throwing the contents down to their accomplices on the ground as fast as they can.

(Not that theft of stuff from freight trains is anything new - it's doubtless being going on since the birth of railways. For example, these days the summit tracks on Cajon Pass in California, where freights are frequently stopped awaiting paths/doing brake tests etc. are surrounded by a tall security fence, floodlighting, cameras and a 24/7 security presence to discourage it...)

 

[Meerkat]

It just seems a ridiculous failure of security to not have proper fencing around the line.

 

[Chriso]

So the LA gov are now blaming UP lol. My god LA has been destroyed by bad politics and this sums it up

I’m guessing trains have gone through there for years without problems but they are now a victim like every other law abiding business and resident of a weak piss poor government

I really like visiting the US for trains but am so relieved I don’t live there.

For all our problems it’s nothing compared to there

Woke LA DA George Gascon blames UNION PACIFIC for thefts from trains

Gascon's comments come after Governor Gavin Newsom visited a ravaged rail depot in the Lincoln Heights area of the city Thursday (right), saying it looked like a third-world country.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[najaB]

So the LA gov are now blaming UP lol.

Well, to be fair, UP could do more to increase security. As others have pointed out the fencing is very easy to jump.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Well, to be fair, UP could do more to increase security. As others have pointed out the fencing is very easy to jump.

It's still incredibly hypocritical to pin this all on UP whilst acting all innocent in the matter.

 

[najaB]

It's still incredibly hypocritical to pin this all on UP whilst acting all innocent in the matter.

From the article that you linked, it appears that UP picked the fight in the first place:

Progressive Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is firing back at a railroad company that has taken shots at him for not doing more to stop train burglaries in the area, despite the company's pleas for his office's assistance.

 

[LOL The Irony]

From the article that you linked

That @Chriso linked

it appears that UP picked the fight in the first place:

I mean, they have a right to complain. If the thieves are caught, they're out on the streets in no time, ready to offend again.

 

[najaB]

That @Chriso linked

Oops! Sorry.

I mean, they have a right to complain. If the thieves are caught, they're out on the streets in no time, ready to offend again.

At least in some percentage of cases that will be because the evidence isn't there to make a prosecution stick. No CCTV or security guards means that, unless they're caught in the act by the police, the miscreants just need to say "I didn't break into anything, it was just laying on the ground..."

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Union Pacific reportedly laid off many of their railroad police in 2020.

Before Recent Wave of Train Cargo Thefts, Union Pacific Laid Off Unspecified Number of Its Railroad Police Force ~ L.A. TACO

An anonymous employee came forward to L.A. TACO and says Union Pacific ‘should shoulder some of the responsibility instead of just pointing fingers.’

www.lataco.com

However, one major development that may be directly correlated with the rise in theft has continuously been left out: In September of 2020, due to pandemic-related budget cuts, Union Pacific laid off an unspecified number of employees across the railroad system. Including members of its railroad-only police force. Despite record profits in the billions in the last quarter of 2021.

A Union Pacific worker, who asked to remain nameless, came forward to L.A. TACO. In their opinion, the company should “shoulder some of the responsibility instead of just pointing fingers.”

The Union Pacific Police department has jurisdiction over the 32,000 miles of track Union Pacific owns. Many of these “special agents” used to patrol this now infamous stretch of track. According to the source, the number of patrolling officers has been cut from 50 to 60 agents to eight, which the worker thinks has led to an increase in train robberies.

 

[duesselmartin]

unless security is increased, by whomever, UP will loose costumers.

 

[SamYeager]

unless security is increased, by whomever, UP will loose costumers.

Penny wise, pound foolish as the saying goes in the UK.

 

[najaB]

Union Pacific reportedly laid off many of their railroad police in 2020.

As the Myth Busters say: Well there's your problem!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

As the Myth Busters say: Well there's your problem!

Or as Well There's Your Problem say: "make the fences more rigid!"