Why AMTRAK’S Sunset Limited Was EASY To Sabotage

Why AMTRAK’S Sunset Limited Was EASY To Sabotage

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In October 1995, Amtrak’s Sunset Limited was running through the Arizona desert at night, operating normally at track speed under clear conditions. The signals ahead were green, the track appeared intact, and the crew had no indication that anything was wrong. Moments later, the lead locomotive derailed, sending multiple passenger cars off the track and four sleeping cars plunging roughly thirty feet into a dry wash. One crew member did not survive, and dozens of passengers were injured.

What followed was not treated as an accident, but as a case study in systemic vulnerability. Investigators determined that the derailment was caused by deliberate track sabotage at a remote location known as Quail Springs Wash. Twenty-nine spikes had been removed from the inside rail of a curve just before a bridge, allowing the rail to shift inward by several inches. That small displacement was enough to destabilize wheel geometry at speed, causing the train to derail almost instantly once the lead truck encountered the misaligned rail.

More critically, the sabotage bypassed the railroad’s signaling protections. Track circuits, designed to detect broken rails or electrical interruptions and force signals to a restrictive indication, remained active. A simple wire had been installed to keep the circuit closed, ensuring that the signal stayed green despite the compromised track. As a result, the crew received no warning and had no opportunity to react. The system performed exactly as designed, but that design assumed no one would intentionally interfere with it.

The investigation, known as Operation Splitrail, involved roughly ninety FBI agents but led to no arrests. The site’s isolation, minimal physical evidence, and the simplicity of the tools required made tracing the perpetrator extremely difficult. Notes found at the scene, signed by a group calling itself the “Sons of the Gestapo,” were later assessed as likely misdirection rather than evidence of an organized group.

A nearly identical sabotage had occurred in 1939 on the same railroad, using the same method and defeating the same signaling principles. That case was also never solved. In the aftermath of the 1995 derailment, Amtrak rerouted the Sunset Limited away from Phoenix, leaving one of the largest U.S. cities without intercity passenger rail service. The underlying vulnerability that made the sabotage possible, however, remains largely unchanged.