There’s Nothing to Suggest Antifa Is Behind Amtrak Derailment
At around 7:30 a.m. Pacific time, an Amtrak passenger train derailed from an overpass while traveling on a bridge some 40 miles south of Seattle, Washington. The crash was so intense that at least one railcar ended up on the Interstate 5 highway below. The route was part of the (relatively) high-speed rail service from Portland to Seattle.
Shortly after the fact, some conservative media personalities—like Mike Cernovich, the Donald Trump enthusiast Jack Posobiec and, of course, Alex Jones from “InfoWars”—tried to pin blame for the train crash on Antifa. Now, granted that Antifa, annoying though it may be, is more of a tactic than an actual rank-and-file organization, the above-cited pundits apparently wasted no time with their accusations. (Source: “‘Antifa’ Falsely Linked to Amtrak Train Derailment by Right-Wing Conspiracy Peddlers,” Newsweek, December 18, 2017.)
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Mike Cernovich was especially adamant. He tweeted that Antifa boasted about causing the accident.
ANTIFA group boasted about pouring concrete on train tracks.
They deleted the post but URL remains:https://t.co/uahPd12olY
You can read the archived post here:https://t.co/od1OF1bdoE pic.twitter.com/4j7ReC2BaP
— Mike Cernovich ???????? (@Cernovich) December 18, 2017
No Evidence of Conspiracy
They blamed the shape-shifting “Antifa” before anyone had a chance to investigate the crash and its possible causes. Trains have derailed even in Europe, where systems are highly advanced, due to “human error.” In 2013, a high-speed train derailed near Santiago de Compostela, Spain, killing 79 people. Investigators proved it was the driver’s fault; he was going too fast for the track.
Before blaming a protest tactic, however annoying it might be, it’s best to wait until trained professionals have done their job.
The evidence shows nothing of Antifa. It does show that about a dozen cars from an Amtrak train jumped over the tracks, injuring tens of people and killing at least three passengers. The 14-car train was carrying 80 passengers, three crew, and two service personnel.
There have been suggestions that something was on the track, which could have caused the train to flip and pile up. (Source: “Deadly Train Derailment Likely Caused By Object ‘Placed On Ohe Tracks’: AP,” Zero Hedge, December 18, 2017.)
But the latest reports simply say that the investigation into the cause is ongoing.
Conspiracy or Not, the Latest Amtrak Derailment Does Highlight a Problem
Still, this latest railway derailment does point to a problem, even if it’s not Antifa-related. The very fact that Amtrak was offering a new service aimed at accelerating travel times for commuters is rather ambitious, given the terrible state of North American railways. For some reason, Americans don’t like trains as much as Europeans, Japanese, Indians, Chinese, and many others do.
Then again, compared to the services that the latter passengers can enjoy, Amtrak offers slow speeds and high costs. It cost me some $300.00 return to go from Washington D.C. to New York City recently. Driving would have cost some $30.00 in gas. No wonder people prefer to fly or drive.
Young people, however, are drawn to the idea of magical hyperloop trains. In Silicon Valley, they’re all the rage, and many Elon Musk fan-boys and girls love to talk about how “cool” they will be, traveling between Los Angeles and New York in an hour or two. Of course, there’s the minor problem that they remain science fiction for now.
Indeed, even regular European/Chinese/Japanese high-speed rail remains the realm of fantasy in the United States. Elon Musk might want to consider building one of those first before hyperlooping.
Fast trains exist, the technology is proven, and—city center to city center—they compete with (or are even faster than) airplanes. And you avoid all the checks, delays, and inconvenience of modern U.S. domestic air travel. Imagine that you can go from Paris to Nice, a distance no shorter than from Boston to Philadelphia, in two hours. The best of the Amtrak trains might get you there in six or seven hours.
So, if there’s a conspiracy that the Amtrak accident in Washington State has highlighted, it’s not Antifa. It’s the poverty of rail service in North America and the poor state of existing infrastructure.
