1995 Palo Verde derailment
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| Palo Verde derailment | |
|---|---|
| Location | Palo Verde, Arizona |
| Target(s) | Amtrak Sunset Limited train |
| Date | October 9, 1995 |
| Attack Type | train derailment |
| Fatalities | 1 |
| Injuries | 78 |
| Perpetrator(s) | unknown; possibly right-wing domestic terrorists, although it is possible that claims of terrorist activity were made to conceal an attempt to rob the train |
| Motive | unknown, possibly attempted robbery |
The 1995 Palo Verde derailment happened on October 9, 1995, when an Amtrak Sunset Limited train derailed near Palo Verde, Arizona on Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. The two locomotives and eight of the twelve train cars derailed, four of them falling 30 feet off a bridge into a dry river bed. Mitchell Bates, a sleeping car attendant, was killed, and 78 people were injured, 12 of them seriously.
Four typewritten notes attacking the ATF and the FBI, referring to the 1993 Waco Siege and signed "Sons of the Gestapo" were found near the scene of the crash, indicating that the train had been sabotaged, perhaps by right-wing domestic terrorists. Two of these notes were found by Neal Hallford, a passenger traveling from Oklahoma to San Diego, California.
It was found that the rails had been shifted out of position to cause the derailment, but only after they had been connected with wires. This kept the track circuit closed, circumventing safety systems designed to warn locomotive engineers of track problems, and suggested that the saboteurs had a working knowledge of railroads.
The saboteurs were never caught—the FBI now believes that the "Sons of the Gestapo" was a purely fictional terrorist group, invented to conceal a plan to wreck and rob a freight train. It is also thought that the sabotage may have been done by a disgruntled rail worker who used the notes to conceal the real motive.
[edit] Media Coverage
The causes of this wreck have been explored in two major documentaries, "When Trains Crash: Blood on the Tracks", and "Derail: America's Worst Train Wrecks," It has also been featured on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries.
[edit] Fiction
The events surrounding this wreck were partially fictionalized in the novel The Jerusalem Syndrome: The Wreck Of The Sunset Limited by Anne Montgomery.
[edit] External links
- CNN - Sabotage suspected in 'terrorist' derailment
- Arizona Amtrak derailment
- Fatal Amtrak sabotage in state still unsolved
- Personal website of Neal Hallford, a passenger on the Sunset Limited.
