For Maximum Comfort Go By Rail!

No doubt Canadians will think slightly differently about their mode of transit from now on. For a while, at least.

London and Madrid and Mumbai had their terrorist bombing experiences, maiming and killing people in the name of Islamic jihad impressing upon the west their determination to convince the world that the peaceful religion of Islam could either be adopted willingly or through dire terroristic threats.

It was simply Toronto's turn, and might have been if the diligence of security authorities in the United States and Canada, collaborating on the investigation of a new threat surfacing to North America had not resulted in the apprehension of two individuals whose brand of Islam is often called 'radical', a word that misses the truth by quite a bit.

It would appear that the collaboration between the FBI and the RCMP has not been without its little disagreements. Canadian authorities, it seems clear from what is emerging, were on the cusp on several occasions, of moving toward a conclusion of the investigation, while on each such occasion the FBI called on their Canadian counterparts to wait yet awhile.

Further ripening investigation to cast as wide a net as possible was preferable, and for obvious reasons. There may be further arrests of other individuals involved in the scheme to alert the west to the enlightened decision to recognize the benefits to be had in engagement with Islam.

There is speculation that last week's Boston Marathon bombing, the loss of life and the trauma suffered by hundreds of onlookers, both physical and psychological, spurred the RCMP to reveal the Canadian situation and make the two arrests of Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser in Montreal and Toronto respectively.

In the process, hampering both their own investigation and the joint investigation with the U.S. authorities in confidently identifying others involved in this or similar plots. There is doubtless some residual tension now between the two agencies with the pre-emption action of the RCMP. Particularly since spokespeople were quick to assure the public that no one was ever in any direct danger at that stage.

Worldwide, we are given to understand, 30 guerrilla attacks take place on trains each and every month. "The fact is that rail transportation and deep public surface transportation is increasingly a favourite target of terrorism. If we look at the statistics, surface transportation is the terrorist killing fields", elucidated Brian Michael Jenkins, director of the Mintea Transportation Institute's national safety and security centre.

Who knew? Via rail moves four million passengers annually between 450 cities and towns, over 12,500 kilometres of track mostly owned by Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railway. Billions in economic activity is carried along on those rails. And there does exist a modicum of security.

 "It's not a free shot. ...It's not as though most sections of track are being monitored - because they're not", advises a senior research fellow at University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies.

 Via has some security; frequent service, electrical currents detecting breaks in the line; speed of the trains. Amtrak, on the other hand, uses bomb-sniffing dogs to detect explosive devices before passengers board their trains.

 "(Our) record is very good and of course we're sensitive to those questions (about security) because passengers need to be comforted", said Jacques Gagnon, Via spokesman. "There are a lot of actions taken in the background to ensure the safety of passengers...it defeats the purpose to outline publicly what you might might not have."

Reassuring, and then again, not very reassuring.