Angry Dutch farmers blamed for railway sabotage: What happened?

Farmers in the Netherlands have taken action in the past, protesting against the government’s nitrogen policy.

People gather on a train platform after suspected sabotage disrupted Dutch train services, in Zwolle, the Netherlands [Handout via Reuters]

Railways in the Netherlands suffered massive disruption on Tuesday when pipes, cables and other materials were placed on dozens of tracks, halting trains and upending the commutes of hundreds of thousands of passengers.

While no one has been blamed for the suspected sabotage, the incident coincides with mass protests by farmers angered by government environmental policies, and took place amid reports in local media that farmers had discussed taking direct action against the railways.

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The Tuesday, September 15 incident is being investigated by police.

So what happened, why are farmers under suspicion, and why would anyone target a railway?

What happened on the Dutch railways?

Trains in the Netherlands came to a standstill on Tuesday morning, causing delays and cancellations for passengers across central and northern parts of the country.

It emerged that items on the tracks had caused trains to be halted.

“Materials were found in several places along tracks that were deliberately placed there. This is causing section failures. It seems to be sabotage,” ProRail, the country’s rail infrastructure operator, said in a statement.

ProRail’s interim CEO Mirjam van Velthuizen said the incident demonstrated how dependent the Netherlands is on its railways and called for greater investment in contingency planning.

“In a world where uncertainties are increasing, we must ensure that the railway can absorb disruptions, that the impact remains limited as much as possible, and that we can recover as quickly as possible,” she said.

ProRail said there were no injuries reported.

“Placing materials on the tracks is extremely dangerous and unacceptable, and fortunately, it did not lead to any accidents today,” it said.

Sabotage is suspected by the Dutch police, which is investigating.

What sort of sabotage is suspected?

Pipes and cables had been fixed to railway tracks, causing at least 35 signal failures across the country’s network of trains, ProRail said.

“It appeared that pipes and cables had been laid on the tracks, causing our system to believe that a train was standing on the tracks,” the operator said. That caused the automatic system to change signals to red, preventing trains from passing.

“Unauthorised” materials were found in at least 20 locations in the rail network, the operator said.

The sabotage had been going on since Monday, according to some reports. In one case early on Monday, a train “struck metal” on the track near Steenwijk, in the country’s east, according to media reports.

ProRail said there was no damage because the train was not travelling at full speed.

Why are farmers under suspicion?

While the perpetrators have not been found, Dutch media has reported speculation that angry farmers are behind the sabotage.

ProRail sources told broadcaster NOS that they had spotted farmer groups discussing taking direct action, including by fixing metal pipes to train lines, on social media groups.

Farmers in the Netherlands have taken similar action in the past, in protest against the government’s nitrogen policy.

The Farmers Defence Force (FDF), a protest and advocacy group, said it was not behind the railway sabotage, but did not rule out individual farmers being responsible.

The activist group did, however, say members set hay bales and car tyres alight along various roads across the Netherlands on Tuesday afternoon, on the government’s budget day of Prinsjesdag, in protest.

What are farmers protesting about in the Netherlands?

FDF opposes planned government policies requiring farmers to reduce nitrogen emissions, arguing that they are being unfairly blamed for nitrogen pollution.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), agriculture accounts for 60-80 percent of human-driven nitrogen emissions. “While nitrogen is a natural and necessary nutrient for growing food, modern industrial farming practices introduce far more nitrogen into the ecosystem than the earth and crops can naturally absorb,” the EPA states.

But farmers in the Netherlands say reducing these emissions will substantially increase the cost of livestock farming and force some agricultural businesses to reduce production or close down.

“We feel like the country is on fire. Farmers feel as though their businesses are on fire because of the government’s plans”, FDF spokesperson Sieta van Keimpema told Reuters.

The government has promised financial compensation for farmers whose businesses are hit by the proposals.

A farmer stands next to a cow during a protest on September 16 at the Gelderland Provincial House in Arnhem, Netherlands, where farmers are protesting against the Dutch cabinet’s nitrogen plans [Koen Van Weel/EPA]

Why would saboteurs target railways?

According to the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) in San Jose, California in the US, railways have been targeted by groups ranging from al-Qaeda to India’s Maoist guerrilla fighters to extreme environmental groups in Europe.

“Derailments are intended to cause casualties, while attacks on tracks and other right-of-way infrastructure are primarily intended to cause disruption and attract attention,” a 2018 report by the institute explains.

Because of the expansive nature of a railway network, it is impossible to completely defend it from sabotage, making it an easy target for those seeking to cause disruption.

MTI’s database shows that between 1970 and the end of 2017, there were a total 282 attempts to deliberately derail trains and 817 additional attacks on railway infrastructure, including tracks, bridges, tunnels, signalling and other right-of-way equipment.

Western Europe has suffered the second-highest number of derailment attempts globally, at 10.6 percent, after South Asia, where the majority of railway attacks take place.

“The European groups have sought to attract public attention to their issues that motivate them and cause disruption. Their actions resulted in inconvenience, but no casualties,” said MTI in its report.

Where else has railway sabotage happened in Western Europe in recent years?

French media reported a derailment in Normandy on Friday that is also suspected to be an act of sabotage. A section of rail found on the track may have caused the crash, according to prosecutors, the BBC reported.

In July, the “Angry Birds Commando” group, a radical environmentalist group, said it had placed incendiary devices on the railway line between Cologne and Dusseldorf, in protest against industrial technology causing the destruction of the environment, Deutsche Welle reported.

荷兰农民过去曾采取行动，抗议政府的氮肥政策。

在荷兰兹沃勒，疑似人为破坏导致荷兰火车服务中断后，人们聚集在火车站台上。[路透社供图]

周二，荷兰铁路遭遇大规模中断，数十条铁轨上被放置了管道、电缆和其他材料，导致列车停运，数十万乘客的通勤被打乱。

虽然目前还没有人因这起疑似破坏事件受到指责，但该事件恰逢农民因政府环境政策而举行大规模抗议，并且当地媒体报道称，农民们曾讨论过对铁路采取直接行动。

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警方正在调查9月15日星期二发生的这起事件。

那么究竟发生了什么？为什么农民会受到怀疑？为什么会有人以铁路为目标？

荷兰铁路发生了什么事？

周二上午，荷兰的火车系统陷入瘫痪，导致该国中部和北部地区的乘客出行延误或取消。

调查发现，轨道上的障碍物导致列车停运。

该国铁路基础设施运营商ProRail在一份声明中表示：“我们在多处铁轨沿线发现了故意放置的物品。这导致部分路段发生故障。这似乎是一起蓄意破坏事件。”

ProRail 的临时首席执行官 Mirjam van Velthuizen 表示，该事件表明荷兰对铁路的依赖程度，并呼吁加大对应急计划的投资。

“在一个不确定性日益增加的世界里，我们必须确保铁路能够承受各种干扰，尽可能地限制干扰的影响，并尽快恢复正常运营，”她说。

ProRail公司表示，没有人员受伤的报告。

声明称：“在铁轨上放置材料极其危险且不可接受，所幸今天没有造成任何事故。”

荷兰警方怀疑这是一起蓄意破坏事件，目前正在调查中。

怀疑是哪种类型的破坏行为？

ProRail表示，有人将管道和电缆固定在铁轨上，导致全国铁路网至少发生35起信号故障。

操作员说：“看起来铁轨上铺设了管道和电缆，导致我们的系统误认为有火车停在铁轨上。” 这导致自动系统将信号灯变为红色，阻止火车通行。

运营商表示，在铁路网络中至少 20 个地点发现了“未经授权”的材料。

据一些报道，破坏活动从周一就开始了。媒体报道称，周一早些时候，在荷兰东部斯滕韦克附近，一列火车撞上了铁轨上的金属。

ProRail公司表示，由于列车当时并未全速行驶，因此没有造成任何损坏。

为什么农民会受到怀疑？

虽然肇事者尚未被找到，但荷兰媒体报道称，有猜测认为愤怒的农民是此次破坏活动的幕后黑手。

ProRail 的消息人士告诉广播公司 NOS，他们发现一些农民团体在社交媒体群组中讨论采取直接行动，包括将金属管道固定在火车轨道上。

荷兰农民过去也曾采取过类似的行动，以抗议政府的氮肥政策。

抗议和倡导团体“农民自卫队”（FDF）表示，铁路破坏事件并非其所为，但也不排除个别农民对此负有责任。

不过，该活动组织表示，周二下午，也就是荷兰政府公布预算的王子日当天，其成员在荷兰各地多条道路上点燃干草捆和汽车轮胎以示抗议。

荷兰农民抗议的是什么？

FDF反对政府计划出台的政策，要求农民减少氮排放，认为农民因氮污染而受到不公平的指责。

据美国环境保护署（EPA）称，农业占人为氮排放量的60%至80%。EPA指出：“氮是粮食生长所需的天然必需营养素，但现代工业化农业生产方式向生态系统中引入的氮远远超过土壤和作物自然吸收的能力。”

但荷兰的农民表示，减少这些排放将大幅增加畜牧业的成本，并迫使一些农业企业减少产量或关闭。

“我们感觉国家正处于水深火热之中。由于政府的计划，农民们感觉他们的生意正面临危机，”FDF发言人西塔·范·凯姆佩玛告诉路透社。

政府承诺对受这些提案影响的农民提供经济补偿。

9月16日，在荷兰阿纳姆的格尔德兰省议会大厦，一名农民站在一头牛旁边参加抗议活动，农民们正在抗议荷兰内阁的氮肥计划。[Koen Van Weel/EPA]

为什么破坏分子会以铁路为目标？

据美国加利福尼亚州圣何塞的米内塔交通研究所 (MTI) 称，从基地组织到​​印度的毛派游击队，再到欧洲的极端环保组织，铁路一直是各种组织的袭击目标。

该研究所 2018 年的一份报告解释说：“脱轨事故旨在造成人员伤亡，而袭击铁轨和其他路权基础设施的主要目的是造成混乱并引起关注。”

由于铁路网络规模庞大，不可能完全防止破坏，因此很容易成为那些企图制造混乱的人的目标。

MTI 的数据库显示，从 1970 年到 2017 年底，共发生了 282 起蓄意破坏火车的事件，以及 817 起针对铁路基础设施（包括轨道、桥梁、隧道、信号和其他路权设备）的袭击事件。

西欧是全球脱轨事故发生率第二高的地区，占全球总数的 10.6%，仅次于南亚，而南亚是铁路袭击事件的主要发生地。

“这些欧洲团体试图引起公众对其诉求的关注，并制造混乱。他们的行动造成了不便，但没有造成人员伤亡，”MTI在其报告中指出。

近年来，西欧还有哪些地方发生过铁路破坏事件？

法国媒体报道称，周五在诺曼底发生了一起列车脱轨事故，怀疑是人为破坏。据BBC报道，检察官表示，在铁轨上发现的一段铁轨可能是造成事故的原因。

据德国之声报道，今年7月，激进环保组织“愤怒的小鸟突击队”表示，他们已在科隆和杜塞尔多夫之间的铁路线上放置了燃烧装置，以抗议工业技术对环境造成的破坏。