European Railroad Discussion > Train Attacked in France

According to  Fox News and CNN, a train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris (looks like a Thalys) was attacked by a gunman who was subdued by U.S. military who happened to be on the train. Maybe flying with it's security is safer. Anyone can get on a train...often without a ticket (many times I've never had my pass checked on trains in Europe). The gunman was reported to be from Moroco. 

Here's a report:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3206426/U-S-Marines-armed-gunman-onboard-high-speed-train-Amsterdam-Paris.html

Good work, US Marines!

Fox now reporting that the terrorist was known to intelligent services. So why was he allowed to run amuck and board a train with an AK47? When are we going to wake up and take these people out before they do harm to others? 

Great work by those Marines.This piece of filth ,had around 200 rounds for that AK,as well as a hand gun(according to media here in Australia).
Regards,DK

More recent report says that the two military personnel were a USAF Airman, and a Oregon National Guardsman.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> So why was he allowed to run amuck and board a train with an AK47?

Because to not allow him to do so would hurt his feelings and lower his self-esteem. 

A more thorough description of the event can be found here: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/22/433742051/3-americans-hailed-as-heroes-for-subduing-train-gunman

The term "hero" is overused, but certainly warranted in this case.

  "....LINK: THE TELEGRAPH  ".......Between 2002 and 2011 there were 203 deaths on aircraft that were attributable to acts of malice. On trains and mass transit there were 804.These included the commuter rail bombings in Madrid and Mumbai as well as the 7/7 attacks in London.The most detailed research on the subject has been carried out by Prof Arnold Barnett, a statistician at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School. He calculated that rail passengers were twice as likely to be victims of terrorism as frequent flyers........."

Look like the trains here were part of the Thalys fleet, one older Thalys-PBA (=TGV-Réseau) and the other Thalys-PBKA (TGV-POS with older type engines). From the pictures it looks like the incident happened at the older end. 550 people aboard can only be packed to two single level TGV units like Thalyses.

Fortunately things turned out well this time for people aboard Thalys.

Below pictures of similar (if not same) Thalys-PBA units at Paris Gare du Nord, where the train was heading. At Gare du Nord you can see police carrying heavy fire arms for cases like this so it can still be considered a safe place. They've been doing this for a couple of decades at least, with pretty good results.

If you are interested in more Thalys pictures, look here: http://www.4rail.net/reference_france_gallery2_hsemus.php#tha_pba  and here: http://www.4rail.net/reference_france_gallery2_hsemus.php#tha_pbka

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The jihad continues.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/15 22:24 by Geodyssey.

I am not at all sure what "extremeism" is other than if it exists it not at all confined to members of one particular religion. Witness all kinds of actions around teh world, generally in places where the citizenship is heavily armed.

As to the views of various world leaders, here is an example that ought to be noted, given th garbage that was beeing spouted about the French ten years ago. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/24/legion-dhonneur-for-men-who-prevented-carnage-on-french-train.

Note that it was three young Americans and one more elderly Briton involved.

PS Thanks for the nice pics McKey!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/15 11:14 by spflow.

CA_Sou_MA_Agent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> andersonb109 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So why was he allowed to run amuck and board a
> train with an AK47?
>
> Because to not allow him to do so would hurt his
> feelings and lower his self-esteem. 

 A very strange comment. Does this mean that carrying an AK47 means someone has personality disorders? Maybe you're on to something here.

ATSF3751 Wrote:
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>  A very strange comment. Does this mean that
> carrying an AK47 means someone has personality
> disorders? Maybe you're on to something here.

What I was attempting to say was that in today's enlightened, touchy-feely, politically-correct societies, there are movements afoot where no one would want to deprive anyone of anything (including AK-47s) because that might hurt their feelings and lower their self-esteem.

We've forgotten how to say "no, you can't do that."  Saying such things triggers lawsuits and other ugly things.     



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/15 02:59 by CA_Sou_MA_Agent.

CA_Sou_MA_Agent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ATSF3751 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >  A very strange comment. Does this mean that
> > carrying an AK47 means someone has personality
> > disorders? Maybe you're on to something here.
>
> What I was attempting to say was that in today's
> enlightened, touchy-feely, politically-correct
> societies, there are movements afoot where no one
> would want to deprive anyone of anything
> (including AK-47s) because that might hurt their
> feelings and lower their self-esteem.
>
> We've forgotten how to say "no, you can't do
> that."  Saying such things triggers lawsuits and
> other ugly things.     

However, I don't know where this leads in terms of freedoms. The whoel point in Europe is that people aren't allowed to carry firearms, regardless of their feelings. As a result we have a tiny fraction of the shoootings you have in the US. So much for not saying no!

spflow Wrote:
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> The whole point in Europe is that people
> aren't allowed to carry firearms, regardless of
> their feelings.

If people aren't allowed to carry firearms, why was this guy carrying several?  So much for the effectiveness of gun control.  If people are hellbent on obtaining firearms and carrying out mayhem, they'll find a way, regardless of what laws are on the books.  And if they can't get a gun, there are always knives and machetes.  Or they can drive a car into a crowd of people.  Or set off a remote controlled explosive.  Or fly a plane into a tall building. 

spflow Wrote:
------------------ However, I don't know where this leads in terms of
> freedoms. The whoel point in Europe is that people
> aren't allowed to carry firearms, regardless of
> their feelings. As a result we have a tiny
> fraction of the shoootings you have in the US. So
> much for not saying no!


Firearms aren't the problem, Islam and jihad is the problem. Notice all the jihad killings featuring boxcutters, scimitars, explosives, drowning, throwing off roofs, etc.