Anonymous submission to BC Counter-info
Following the approval of the PRGT in June, dozens of track circuits throughout BC have been shorted, disconnected, or otherwise tampered with.
The vast majority of track circuits operate on direct current (DC) and are relatively easy to induce a fail state. The quickest and most discreet method has proven to be the simple snipping of the cable bonding track blocks, requiring little more than a good pair of cutters. Alternatively, a 4 AWG copper wire (commonly found connecting residential main service panels) can be securely fastened to the rail head. And, of course, there is always the option of disabling the power supply. This may include damaging the grounding, which is more time-consuming but notably harder to detect and locate.
Technical details and diagrams of track circuits, and specifically how to compromise them, are readily available in engineering textbooks at your local library, past communiqués, and even neatly presented in certain PDFs hosted on the Government of Canada’s website.
Not much more needs to be said. However, recall that one of the discursive characteristics of the Canadian state is its spatiality, which is also, perhaps, its most exploitable vulnerability. Reflect on past moments in struggle and assertions of sovereignty and recall how strategically positioned rail blockades effectively stretched and divided state forces, offering land defenders at key rupture points critical time to reorient and regroup. That said, disrupting the logistics of extractivism is often most effective when undertaken unilaterally.
Look no further for evidence of the effectiveness of such actions against a wholly undefended infrastructure than in the words of one counterinsurgency state operative:
“If ever there was a military showdown between Indigenous people and the Canadian army, the first target would be the railway lines and burning cars would be on every railway line in Canada … would almost be impossible to stop despite all the Canadian military and police alerted to the potential. A burning car on a railway track is not simply a blockade, it is also a very efficient and economical weapon. A car with a full fuel tank would burn at a temperature high enough to warp the track and require extensive repairs.”
Until paths cross in the night, on the frontlines of the only good war: the war against PRGT, against Empire, and against all forces that seek to estrange and domesticate.