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Results for railroads

4 results found

Author: Burgess, Melissa

Title: Crime on the NSW Rail System

Summary: Aim: To provide an overview of the incidence of offences against the person on the NSW rail system. Method: Analysis of data from the NSW Police Force’s Computerised Operational Policing System (COPS). Results: Recorded rates of personal crime on the NSW rail system are generally very low. On a typical weekday across NSW the rate of personal crimes on trains is 0.3 incidents per 100,000 passenger journeys. Similarly, the rate of personal crimes on railway stations is 0.04 per 100,000 passenger interchanges. Not all stations carry the same risk. On stations where personal offences had occurred, the risk varied from 0.02 per 100,000 interchanges at North Sydney station to 3.2 per 100,000 interchanges at Waratah station. Non-domestic assault is the most commonly recorded personal offence (49.5% of incidents), followed by steal from person (30.2% of incidents), robbery (12.2% of incidents), other sexual offences (7.5% of incidents) and sexual assault (0.6% of incidents). The overall risk of victimisation on weekdays is highest during the afternoon commuter period (3:00pm to 6:30pm) and lowest during the early morning travel period (2:00am to 6:00am). Risk of victimisation on weekends is highest in evening (6:30pm to 2:00am) and early morning (2:00am to 6:00am) periods. Conclusion: Crime on the rail system is not evenly distributed across time and space. It is hoped that the current findings are a useful source of information for public transport users and for policy makers who are tasked with making decisions about crime control on the NSW rail system.

Details: Sydney: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2011. 13p.

Source: Internet Resource: Issue Paper no. 64: Accessed March 10, 2014 at: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/agdbasev7wr/bocsar/documents/pdf/bb64.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: Australia

URL: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/agdbasev7wr/bocsar/documents/pdf/bb64.pdf

Shelf Number: 131846

Keywords:
Railroads
Trains
Transit Crime
Transit Safety

Author: Jenkins, Brian Michael

Title: The 1995 Attempted Derailing of the French TGV (High-Speed Train) and a Quantitative Analysis of 181 Rail Sabotage Attempts

Summary: On August 26, 1995, the Saturday of the final and busiest weekend of France's summer holiday season, terrorists attempted to derail the TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse) between Lyon and Paris by planting a bomb. Fortunately, their crude triggering mechanism failed to detonate the bomb, and subsequent analysis indicates that even had the bomb gone off, the explosion would not have derailed the train. The TGV episode, one of a continuing series of case studies by the Mineta Transportation Institute, points to a continuing problem: Since 1995, terrorists have attempted to derail trains on at least 144 occasions. Because of the expansion of high-speed rail systems in Europe, Asia, and North America, where 15 high-speed rail projects are in preparation or under way in the United States alone, this case study has been expanded to include a chronology and statistical analysis of attempted derailments worldwide. This analysis examines the geographic distribution of the attempts, the methods used by the saboteurs, and the outcomes. Although based on a small universe of events, it underscores both the attractiveness to terrorists of attacking transportation systems-a successful attack can result in high body counts, significant disruption, dramatic images, and enormous publicity, all things sought by terrorists-and the difficulties of achieving success.

Details: San Jose, CA: Mineta Transportation Institute, College of Business, San Jose State University, 2010. 66p.

Source: Internet Resource: MTI Report 09-12: Accessed March 28, 2014 at: http://transweb.sjsu.edu/MTIportal/research/publications/documents/TGV_book%20(with%20covers).pdf

Year: 2010

Country: International

URL: http://transweb.sjsu.edu/MTIportal/research/publications/documents/TGV_book%20(with%20covers).pdf

Shelf Number: 132014

Keywords:
Bombings
Railroads
Terrorism
Trains
Transit Crime
Transportation Security

Author: Plant, Jeremy F.

Title: Securing and Protecting America's Railroad System: U.S. Railroad and Opportunities for Terrorist Threats

Summary: On any given day, thousands of trains move across the American landscape. Each one of them presents a potential threat to the safety of individuals and families, to the continued functioning of our communities and our economy, and to the life of our great cities. Whether carrying millions of workers to and from their jobs, or providing the safest means of transporting hazardous materials, or bringing food and agricultural necessities to consumers, railroads pose an inviting target to would-be terrorists. Yet no significant act of terrorism has been directed against U. S. railroads, and we lack hard information on the nature of the terrorist risks involved in rail transport. This report highlights the potential threats, examines the response of government and the rail industry to the post-9/11 security responsibilities, and suggests ways in which public policy and rail operations can be better directed to meet the challenges of security in an age of terrorist activity. Efforts to secure the nation's rail system have been undertaken by federal, state, and local government agencies and by private rail operators. These activities differ fundamentally between the passenger and freight modes. Driven by events such as the Madrid and London rail attacks, and by the assumption that since the 9/11/01 events all passenger modes of travel in the U.S. constitute potential terrorist targets, passenger rail security has been largely entrusted to the public sector, albeit with less attention and fewer resources granted for passenger rail security than for aviation. Freight rail security has also been driven by events but has been guided by the private sector rail industry. Resources currently directed to rail security are inadequate, given the potential for catastrophic loss of life or economic disruption from attacks on the rail system. The growing use of rail systems for work-related passenger travel and the critical role played by freight railroads in U.S. and global commerce makes insuring their security a matter of urgent public concern. While the efforts to secure the system led by the Department of Homeland Security represent a good start in tackling the issues, legislation specifically dealing with rail security is needed to identify the threats, clarify the roles of the various public and private actors, and establish a level of funding commensurate with the importance of the rail system and the potential loss of life and economic damage that might result from terrorist attacks. In addition to prevention, the rail system plays or can play an important role in mitigation and recovery efforts after man-made or natural disasters.

Details: Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania State University Harrisburg, 2007. 82p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 15, 2015 at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.476.9059&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Year: 2007

Country: United States

URL: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.476.9059&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Shelf Number: 136985

Keywords:
Homeland Security
Railroads
Terrorism
Transit Crime
Transit Safety
Transportation Security

Author: Ashby, Matthew

Title: Using Crime Science for Understanding and Preventing Theft of Metal from the British Railway Networks

Summary: Metal theft has emerged as a substantial crime problem, causing widespread disruption and damage in addition to the loss of metal itself, but has been the subject of little research. This thesis uses the paradigm of crime science to analyse the problem, focusing on thefts from the railway network in Great Britain. Two theoretical concepts are used: crime scripts and the routine-activities approach. Police-recorded crime and intelligence data are used to develop a crime script, which in turn is used to identify features of the problem a) analysis of which would potentially be useful to practitioners seeking to understand and prevent metal theft, and b) for which sufficient data are available to make analysis practical. Three such features are then analysed in more detail. First, spatial and temporal distributions of metal theft are analysed. Metal theft appears to differ from other types of acquisitive crime in ways potentially useful for prevention, for example in clustering outside (but close to) cities, and in exhibiting significant repeat victimisation over a longer period than found for other crimes. Second, the potential crime-prevention value of the market-reduction approach is analysed by testing for clusters of thefts close to the locations of scrap-metal dealers. Scrap-yard locations are found to be a significant predictor of local thefts, controlling for metal availability, area accessibility, and density of population and industry. Third, the involvement of organised crime groups (OCGs) in metal theft is tested. Due to the difficulty of defining and measuring organised crime, multiple approaches are used: all show OCG involvement to be rarer than official estimates previously suggested. The implications of these findings for practitioners are discussed. The thesis also considers the relevance of the results for the use of crime science and the analysis of OCGs

Details: London: University College London, UCL Department of Security and Crime Science, 2016. 275p.

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1507833/1/thesis_final_screen.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1507833/1/thesis_final_screen.pdf

Shelf Number: 147914

Keywords:
Crime Prevention
Crime Science
Metal Theft
Property Crime
Property Theft
Railroads
Scrap Metal