Rail Transport And Chemical Warfare

Submitted By Chris-Carver
Words: 1758
Pages: 8

Christopher Carver
Final Paper Homeland Security
Rail Transport and Chemical Warfare

Rail transport is one of the oldest forms of transportation that is still in use today. Rail transport offers a means of conveyance for passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on tracks. The oldest form of rail transport can be dated all the way back to the 6th century B.C.. The received credit for this invention is Periander, who was also known as one of the Seven Sages of Greece. However, the British Empire was the first to design a rail system that didn’t use any animals. This became possible with the invention of the steam engine. With the invention of the steam engine, it was also possible to construct mainline railways. The steam engine was also a key development of the Industrial Revolution. With the development of the railways system, the cost of shipping was reduced allowing for more items to be shipped at the same price. Shipping by rail freight instead of mail also allows for fewer products to be lost. The change from canal shipping to freight shipping allowed for national markets where prices varied from city to city, to stabilize and stay the same everywhere.
In the 1880s, the electrified trains were introduced, which caused the first tramways and rapid transit systems came into being. These trains were used everywhere until 1940. In the 1940s the countries that didn’t have electrified train systems converted all of the steam engines to diesel-electric locomotives. During the 1960s, Japan took the next step in the invention of the locomotive systems and added electrified high-speed railways. This step forward allowed passengers to cut the rate of travel by train down to a fraction of the original time.
In the different parts of the world the rail systems took different paths. In the United States, the train systems outside of the major cities are only used for freight and cargo, where as in the European countries the rail systems are mainly used for passenger transportation. The only rail systems in the United States that are used for passenger transportation are the train systems in the major cities. In the major cities, the rail systems are on a localized or loop system.
Passenger trains are just one part of public transport and often are used to quickly get from one part of town to another faster than driving. Passenger trains range from simple loop tracks to trains that travel from one coast to the other and even from one country to another. The oversight of the train is the duty of a guard or train manager that is onboard at all times on every train. Intercity trains are long-haul trains that operate with few stops between cities and generally take passengers from one major city to another. These trains typically have amenities such as a dining car or sleeping cars. The lines that provide travel over a course of several nights must provide sleeping cars for the passengers.
Several different types of passenger trains systems include regional trains, commuter trains, rapid transit, light rails and the monorail. Regional trains are a medium distance train system that connects the cities with outlaying, and surrounding areas. Regional trains provide a regional service that makes more stops and while traveling at lower speeds. Commuter trains serve suburbs of urban areas, providing a daily commuting service. A commuter train system stays a localized or loop track. Airport rail links provide quick access from city centers to airports.
For each of these different types of trains there are different types of security needed. For a passeneger train there must be much security to patrol the many people, where a freight train, the only people on the train is the operators.
The rail transport system is, in my view, the easiest form of transport to attack. In my view, the rail transport is just asking for a terrorist attack to happen. If I were to attack a country like ours, I would look