The deadly Glendale train derailment is one of today’s top stories.

Randy Townley asks: Are we now seeing the new face of terrorism?
Not in this specific case, but it’s certainly a concern in the wake of Madrid’s 3/11.

Josh Lefkowitz and Lorenzo Vidino had an important article in The National Interest on train terror plots last spring. Here’s a relevant excerpt:

Always eager to exploit vulnerabilities, terrorists have demonstrated a sustained interest in targeting rail systems. While a number of plots have been thwarted by solid intelligence gathering and aggressive police work, there is every indication that subways and trains will continue to be attractive targets for terrorists, who have been able to refine their tactics by studying previous plots. There is evidence, for example, that the Madrid bombers may have learned from the past successful efforts of Chechen terrorists.

Chechens have used nearly every conceivable tactic to inflict maximum damage: from suicide bombers blowing themselves up on commuter trains during the morning rush hour to planting bombs on railway tracks in the proximity of crowded stations. While last month’s bombing of the Moscow subway, which claimed forty lives, attracted widespread press coverage, several other attacks in the rural southern areas of Russia by Chechen terrorists have received little attention despite the carnage they have caused.

Significantly, a now-dismantled Al-Qaeda cell that was based in Madrid and actively helped in the planning of 9/11 had several key links to Chechen extremists. In fact, Imad Eddine Barakat Yarkas, the now incarcerated leader of the cell, is accused by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon of having recruited several militants to train and fight in Chechnya alongside Al Qaeda. Moreover, Yarkas coordinated fundraising efforts within the Madrid Muslim community for Chechen “freedom fighters.”

Abu Qatada, a Palestinian cleric who Spanish authorities have described as “Al-Qaeda’s spiritual leader in Europe,” coordinated the Chechen fundraising from London. Yarkas frequently traveled to London to give funds collected in Spain to Abu Qatada, and, on at least one occasion, was accompanied by Said Chedadi, another member of the Madrid cell involved in fundraising for the “Chechen brothers.” Chedadi is known to have been close to Mohammed Chaoui, one of the three Moroccan men arrested on March 13 by Spanish authorities for their involvement in the deadly Madrid bombings. Another Moroccan alleged to be involved in the bombings, Jamal Zougam, was found with several tapes about jihad in Chechnya, when Spanish authorities searched his Madrid apartment in July of 2001.

While the Chechens serve as the most likely model, there is no shortage of examples of planned and successful attacks on the world’s rail systems. Prior to 9/11, terrorists bombed the Paris metro and released poison gas in the Tokyo subway system. In addition, since 9/11, counterterrorism agents have broken up plots to launch a cyanide attack on the London Tube and bomb railway stations in Dresden and Madrid.

In the United States, the rail network has also been repeatedly targeted. On July 31, 1997, the NYPD launched a pre-dawn raid on an apartment in Brooklyn, New York, after receiving information that two men living in the apartment planned to bomb the New York City subway system. During the raid, police discovered nail-studded pipe bombs, one of which, in the words of a senior law enforcement official, was “all set and ready to go.” NYPD Commissioner Howard Safir remarked, “these individuals intended to take these bombs onto subway trains, set them off, and the probability is that they and many others would have been killed.”

The vulnerability of the New York City subway system again came into focus in September 2003, when Time magazine reported that Saudi Arabia had detained a terrorist with extensive knowledge of a plot to launch a poison gas attack on the subways. In April 2003, news broke that another captured terrorist, Al-Qaeda operations head Khalid Sheik Mohammed, had informed interrogators of an Al-Qaeda plan to target Washington D.C.’s metro…

Sobering information to keep in mind.

Update: Re. the Glendale derailment, there’s a suspect in custody. (Hat tip: Jeff Quinton)

And reader Rich Mazzio writes in:

I just read your post about the vulnerability of our rail lines. The other day in NY a homeless person wandered down the tracks and started a fire which may shut the A and C lines down for up to 5 years. How this person was able to do this in the age of “heightened security” has not been answered. Thank God it was just a homeless person and not a terrorist with a conventional bomb or worse. So much for homeland security.

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