Trains

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. ...

On Monday night, April 14th, anarchists entered Collège de Maisonneuve, which hosts the police training program, Techniques policières. The entrance was painted with “MINI COPS = FUTURE KILLERS” and “JUSTICE FOR ABISAY CRUZ” as well as other tags like “3 STATE MURDERS IN 24H” and “MAKE FASCISTS AFRAID”. A fire extinguisher filled with paint was very helpful, and a window was smashed. We do not forget the murders and abuses committed by the Montreal police over the last few weeks; readers, please spread the popular vengeance. To the students of the Techniques policières program: drop out and change paths, it is not a safe future, neither for us, nor for you. This program trains people who will be the future of state violence. The police is a force that punishes the poor, immigrants and racialized people, that beats and shoots protesters, that arrests and kills people like flies. This society is sick and the sickness is capitalism, the State, and hierarchy, and the guardians of this terrible social order are the police. We will never forget the injustices committed against us. Long live the memory of Abisay Cruz and that of all those killed by the police. ...

Here is a zine detailing how anti-extractivists can disrupt coal rail infrastructure utilising the tactic of unloading coal trains. Each page has been uploaded as an image. PDF (Read)

At the end of October 2023, in the quietest hours of the night, a small group quickly secured a blockade to the CN rail lines in “bc”, near the Hope area. The blockade consisted of a 100-pound iron work table vice – whose jaws were tightened directly to the rail – topped with a several hundred pound pile of chain and scrap metal. On one side of the gigantic work-table vice was painted “FREE GAZA” in red. On the other side was painted “CGL OFF THE YINTAH”. The blockade was secured to a curving stretch of rail in the forest, near no residences. CN freight trains churn through this area multiple times per hour. The blockade was fixed immediately after a train passed, to give the most time for safe work. ...

In the early hours of Nov 5, groups of anarchists acted in solidarity with Sleydo’s call for action to support the ongoing Wet’suwet’en battle to protect the yintah and kill the drill. Rail lines were sabotaged at several points in a disruption of business-as-usual along main arteries of the freight system. They will continue to be sabotaged at random far into the future, at every corner of rail line across the turtle’s back. ...

Wednesday evening, a collective of Indigenous and settler activists blocked the Roberval-Saguenay railroad belonging to the multinational corporation Rio Tinto in solidarity with the National Committee for First Peoples’ Rights which is paralyzing for a third consecutive day the railroad line located at the border of Labrador and Schefferville, which is used by the mining company Tata Steel. The solidarity blockade lasted one hour. These actions have the objective of reminding the governments that the members of the Indigenous communities in this country will no longer accept any compromises regarding criminal acts committed against them. ...

On the evening of the 25th in Montreal, we sabotaged two rail lines in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders. We were inspired by the communique " Glorious Rage: Rail Sabotage in Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en " and its instructions on how to easily disrupt CN’s and CP’s rail infrastructure. We did it, so can you.

On Saturday, more than sixty people acting in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders blocked the CN main line in Saint-Lambert south of Montreal for over six hours. It was the longest rail blockade in Quebec since the winter of 2020, interrupting Via Rail service and immobilizing six freight trains. These notes reflect the experience of a couple participants in Saturday’s blockade. Nostalgia mixed with anticipation as we arrived at the tracks where they cross rue Saint-Georges, with banners ready to hang across the rail crossing and no police in sight. It was a bright morning, temperatures just below freezing and the ground snowless, a contrast with that first night in February 2020, when temperatures sunk to 25 below and snow could be piled into mounds atop the rails. ...

There is nothing left unsaid. RCMP Out. CGL off the Yintah. Defend the Wedzin Kwa. This is an act of genocide. An active genocide. An armed invasion by the colonial state. There is nothing left to say: they do not listen to words. So just do; that is what we have done. One recent evening, allies/accomplices went out into the night to pick up where others may have left off in the spring of 2020: targeting rail infrastructure. ...

This guide is an improved version of the practical section of the To Settlers, By Settlers callout that we recently re-published. Thank you to the reader who brought it to our attention. The aim of information here is to disrupt rail flow, not be a catalyst for derailment or accidents, which could further injure life or land. As always, we encourage folks to think about your heart, as well as the longevity of these actions and overall struggle; a gentle reminder that you are being careful with yourselves, fingerprints and DNA – for everyone’s safety – and that repression often follows action. ...

Skip to the practical section. It’s important to know that settlers have written this. We don’t have the lived experience of any Indigenous person, including the Wet’suwet’en. We do write from a place of heart and affinity within this struggle – personal, political, and/or relational. In that we feel responsibility to act against the systems and corporations that harm the people and land within it. We acknowledge our settler responsibility and complicity in this, and look for opportunities and strategies that align politically as a way to enact solidarity. This does not mean we speak for them, or should be closed to critiques. ...

Over a hundred supporters of Wet’suwet’en land defenders blocked the CP rail train tracks in the Mile End neighbourhood of Montreal for nearly two hours, following the RCMP raid of Gidimt’en camp, criminalizing the Wet’suwet’en in their long struggle against the Coastal Gaslink pipeline. While apocalyptic flooding has devastated the lower mainland, taking out highways and rail lines, and isolating whole cities, the RCMP trespassed onto Wet’suwet’en territory equipped with K9 units, bulldozers, and assault rifles, and arrested land defenders, elders, supporters, and journalists. ...