WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) has issued a full alert warning this week to all its locomotive engineers operating trains on the state’s 5,600 miles of track following a train bombing that killed 10 and wounded 70 in Bombay, India last week.
“The explosion rocked a first-class train car reserved for female passengers just as it was pulling into the Mulund station during the busy evening commute,” Ken Kertesz, Chairman of the PA Legislative Board of the BLE spokesperson said today.
“Reports we received said the rooftop of the train car was ruptured and many of the 100 or so travelers suffered head, torso and other serious injuries.”
The next day the police defused six additional bombs planted in the main railway station in New Delhi. Reports say police there have linked both incidents to “Islamic terrorists” and placed the city on high alert status.
“These are coordinated, well planned acts of terror against the rail system to attack trains and target innocent passengers,” Kertesz said. “This might be related to our renewed troop build up and preparations for war in Iraq.”
“We have to be particularly alert in our traveling environment and pay attention to what is happening around us in train stations, at stops, around bridges and tunnels and busy intersections,” Kertesz advised.
“Our engineers are certainly on alert this week, and we are asking the traveling public to be particularly watchful and report any suspicious activity immediately.” Kertesz said.
The press reported that it was a pedestrian who noticed the bombs in the plastic bag near a taxi stand at the busy New Delhi train station and alerted police.
“That’s exactly the kind of awareness we’re suggesting travelers observe during this critical period when the U.S. prepares for war,” Kertesz said.
Founded in 1863, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers is the oldest railway labor union in the Western Hemisphere.