The Netherlands woke to transport chaos Tuesday after suspected coordinated sabotage crippled major railway routes, exposing just how easily critical infrastructure can be thrown into disarray while Dutch and European leaders increasingly focus their attention on threats from abroad.
The "attacks were simple. Attach pipe between both rails, signalling to the control system that train was present and stopped at that location, forcing the network to stop actual trains.
Workers began discovering sections of pipe attached to rails at around 5:30 a.m. Reports initially identified roughly 20 affected locations, while later accounts said security systems had been disrupted at more than 30 points.
The locations were dispersed enough to say that this was not the work of a few people, but a coordinated effort.
The media keeps calling this an attack, but really this doesn't kill anyone, and any damage is minimal. It still is a problem for a country that relies heavily on rail for commuter transit.
More troubling still, the operation apparently didn’t end after railway crews arrived. ProRail reported discovering new pipes in some areas where workers had already cleared earlier objects, suggesting that the interference was continuing while authorities scrambled to regain control.
There are a lot more details, and I'm sure we will get some more over time.
Hat tip - indirectly - to Bayou Renaissance Man: Yet another reason to update your emergency supplies
Yesterday the Dutch railway network was brought to its knees by coordinated sabotage attacks across the country.
