Securing rail freight operations I: Securing the logistics chain (including intermodal)

There are two just types of trains: freight and passenger. But freight movement needs to be further examined to understand the diversity of rail freight. Parsing freight movements further, there are several distinct categories that need to be taken into consideration: Unit trains of bulk commodities; Intermodal trains; General merchandise trains; Some combination of these (line haul); and Switching and terminal activities. Unit trains of a single commodity spend little time idle in yards and, with the exception of hazmat trains, generally make poor prospects as terrorist weapons. The intermodal network has been the fastest growing segment of the railroad industry ever since it was deregulated with the passage of the Staggers Act in 1980. Protecting the railroad infrastructure that carries freight trains means protecting it per se from those seeking to damage or destroy it, but recognizes that such may be inflicted by actions intended to damage trains.