Anarchist Group Deletes Article Bragging About April Train Track Sabotage Near Monday Derailment

An anarchist group associated with Antifa has deleted an April article bragging about pouring concrete onto railroad tracks in Olympia, WA in an attempt to stop the transportation of fracking equipment over the BNSF railway. The April sabotage by the Puget Sound Anarchists was part of a long-standing protest which included a November raid of an anti-fracking encampment which had been blocking railroad tracks for over a week.

Amtrak passenger train #501, derailed near DuPont, WA

On Monday, an Amtrak passenger train on its inaugural run between Seattle and Portland on brand new BNSF railway tracks derailed near DuPont, Washington sometime before 7:45 a.m., leaving three dead and 77 hospitalized. While the cause is unclear, an unconfirmed report states that train #501 struck an object while traveling at 81 mph, right before a 30mph zone – sending the train careening off a bridge and onto a packed Washington highway full of morning commuters.

The now-deleted post by the Puget Sound Anarchists bragging about the sabotage of BNSF railway tracks using concrete was posted to anarchist website “It’s Going Down” on April 20th, and removed sometime after August 25th – as noted by watchdog organization Far Left Watch. 

Earlier this year, a prominent #Antifa website published an article tacking credit for the sabotage of train tracks in Olympia, WA. In this article they claimed to have poured concrete on the tracks. It has since been deleted. #Amtrak pic.twitter.com/aHfwdSM1ce

— Far Left Watch (@FarLeftWatch) December 18, 2017

The post, which can be seen here, details the group’s early morning protest on April 20th – in which they state that they took precautions to warn BNSF so as to avoid the loss of human life.

Early in the morning of April 20th we poured concrete on the train tracks that lead out of the Port of Olympia to block any trains from using the tracks. We took precautions to notify BNSF (the train company) – we called them and we used wires to send a signal that the tracks were blocked. We did this not to avoid damaging a train, nothing would bring bigger grins to our faces, but to avoid the risk of injuring railway workers.

This action was done to disrupt the movement of trains carrying proppants used in natural gas fracturing.These train tracks are part of a system of pipelines, fracking wells, mines, clearcuts, control centers, fiberoptics, dams, highways and factories that cover the planet and are physical manifestations of a process that is destroying the ecosystems, cultures, and inhabitants everywhere. Behind this network of infrastructure there are politicians, CEOs and bureaucrats who have private security, cops, prison guards, non-profit directors, PR consultants and the legacy of 500 years of colonization to back them up. We oppose all of these manifestations, infrastructural, personal and ideological. We blocked the train tracks because we want to blockade the entire web of domination that is slowly killing us.

The same group, Puget Sound Anarchists, made another post 10 days ago bragging about train-track sabotage in which they “attached wire and jumper cables to the main Union Pacific rail line running through the state of Nebraska to disrupt rail signals and delay trains that mainly carry coal from the mountainous west to population centers in the east. Inspriation for us came from the blockade in Olympia.”

Here is an article from 9 days ago where #Antifa extremists claim they sabotaged train tracks. This is the far-left. #Amtrak pic.twitter.com/ckJCdw1LWI

— Far Left Watch (@FarLeftWatch) December 18, 2017

Police have raided and cleared most of the #OlympiaBlockade. There are also reports that the train has left the Port. This is still a victory as we have cost the Port, Halliburton and Rainbow Ceramics thousands of dollars. Photos by Jake Atkinson pic.twitter.com/8ouzXfZmF8

— Olympia Stand (@Olystand) November 29, 2017

While there is no evidence to suggest that the anarchist protesters were involved in yesterday’s disaster, the distance between their sabotage of railway tracks with concrete is less than 20 minutes away from the derailment. 

Distance from April sabotage to Monday’s derailment (Google Maps)