In a country like the United States, with its vast landscapes, train crews are bound to find themselves far removed from civilisation every so often. That provides an opportunity for those looking to make an easy buck, and they are taking that opportunity increasingly often. Since last March, at least ten freight trains with Nike sneakers have fallen victim to thieves in Arizona’s sparsely populated Mojave desert. The total loot: 2 million dollars.
Criminals groups may be tipped off by people in the business, or themselves scout high-value freight on trains, writes the LA Times. Once the train enters a remote area, they approach it and cut through an air brake hose. That causes an emergency stop, and that means party time for the thieves.
A recent example is the robbery of a BNSF train near Perrin in Arizona on 13 January. Nearly two thousand pairs of new Nikes were taken (especially the “Nigel Sylvester x Air Jordan 4” model, which is not yet available to the public and will likely cost 225 dollars). In the past year, there have been at least nine other incidents with Nike shoes being robbed from trains.
Some of those other recent shoe-freight thefts took place near Hackberry, Arizona (20 November, 41,400 dollars), Yampai (6 December, 48,000 dollars), and Kingman and Seligman (earlier in 2024, 612,000 dollars). Another 346,200 dollars worth of stolen shoes were recovered by law enforcement.
65,000 robberies
The shoe thefts are far from being the only incidents. The LA Times reports that there were at least 65,000 rail freight robberies in 2024. That number is significantly higher than what it was in 2023: it has grown by 40 per cent. The thefts have cost America’s rail companies at least the equivalent of almost 100 million euros.
In reality, the damage is likely quite a bit larger. A local Arizona deputy sheriff and operations vice president at a freight security company explained that rail companies have no incentive to report the thefts. “Why would I want to put my own dirty laundry on the street?” Lewis told the LA times. “If I show a theft trend going along a rail line, everybody’s going to know the railroad has a problem.”
Why the growth?
In 2024, thefts from trains (either on the rails or at train yards) accounted for 9 per cent of total confirmed thefts in the US. Most of those took place on the rail, at 63 per cent. The remaining 37 per cent happened in rail yards, according to American risk monitoring company Overhaul. The company reports an even higher growth in rail thefts in 2024 than the LA Times: 58 per cent. It says that rail freight robberies were the fastest growing category of theft.
Despite the popularity of Nikes among criminals, automotive products account for the majority of the targeted freight. About 60 per cent of all stolen rail freight were cars or car parts.
Overhaul says that there are several reasons for the popularity of trains among thieves. For one, there are often high-value goods on board, and the penalties for rail theft is often not as high as for other crimes. Thieves also get multiple opportunities to target a train, since they usually multiple stops and are left unattended. Moreover, often lackluster security reduces risk. Lastly, the proximity of rail lines next to the Mexican border makes it easy to smuggle stolen goods out of the country.