"The only time you're going to get a large, major investigation is when it derails a train," said Doug Ward, director of the Division of Public Safety Leadership at the Johns Hopkins School of Education. "The question here is what's the best use of police resources."
On one hand, public transit agencies try to play down the dangers of such actions; on the other, they warn of dire consequences.
Greene rejected the description of the guardrail incident as sabotage. "The MTA views this as an act of trespassing."
Like most railroads, the MTA's main message to the public is: Stay away from our rails.
"It's dangerous at all times to be on our rails and it's not acceptable to place anything on the rail tracks. You never know what the consequences would be for people operating the train, the people riding the train or even yourself," Greene said.
She acknowledged that the agency had not publicized previous cases of obstructed tracks. "We can't create a panic that there's this grand conspiracy to place things on our tracks."
Sanders, the transit association official, understands why agencies play down such incidents. "You don't necessarily want to make a big deal of this stuff because you get copycats."
Still, transit agencies nationwide must deal with obstructions that have been placed on tracks, he said. "It happens occasionally. People are people. You find a [grocery] market's basket on the tracks every once in a while."
Baltimore's light rail system is vulnerable to such vandalism because it runs through a number of wooded areas where trespassers' activities would not be very visible. The stretch south of Lutherville is one of them.
Greene said records are kept of objects placed on the tracks and that police investigate if they notice a pattern of activity. But she said no pattern had been identified in Sunday's incident.
In that case, a train struck the guardrail on the tracks south of the Lutherville station about 2:10 p.m. The operator stopped the train but was unable to dislodge the twisted metal from the wheels and was instructed to try to get the train to the Lutherville station, according to the MTA.
With the train crippled on the northbound track, the MTA switched to two-way operations on the southbound track. The two boys were walking north, with their backs to an oncoming train, when they were struck, Greene said. MTA officials theorized, after viewing video from the train, that the boys might have believed the train was approaching on its normal track.
