Overhunting

The Overhunting (オーバーハンティング, Ōbāhantingu^?) is an armored prison transport train operated in Academy City.

Principles

Operated in secrecy along unofficial lines and subway stations below prisons and courthouses in Academy City, the Overhunting is an armored train which is used to transport prisoners which cannot be transported using ordinary methods.

The Overhunting has seven cars, three pairs and one singular. As with many trains, engine cars are located at the front and the back, with motors and emergency batteries. The second and sixth cars are weapon cars, with containers holding ground-attack rockets and domed anti-air optical weapons built to glass laser standards. The third car is the waiting area for the armed guards. The fourth and fifth cars are the only ones used to carry prisoners.

The train is protected by composite armor, 200mm thick on the sides, 120mm thick on top where it is thinnest and over 800mm thick at the front. It is described as being built more like a shelter than a train, and any more weight would likely damage the wheels and rails. In the case of the December 29th crash, when the train crashed in another at full speed, while the front car was crushed, the driver compartment was not fatally crushed and the other cars were left relatively intact.

The special circumstances of the Overhunting apparently prioritize manual control over ordinary ATS, though it is still in play, and it has multiple safety devices including air brakes and electromagnetic brakes (which use electromagnetism to constantly keep brake pads open, such that an electricity cut-off in a power failure or an emergency would cause the pads to spring back and apply the brakes). A break alert is also set to be transmitted if the train crashes and/or a jailbreak occurs.

Prisoners are kept and transported in wheeled cages, vaguely resembling thick cages used to transport animals or foot carts that might be wheeled down the aisle in a regular train, with handcuffs, fetters and other restraints also used to bind them. Along with the armed prison guards (rather than Anti-Skill) on the train, the drivers carry a cheap 5-shot revolver and a pair of non-metal handcuffs in holsters on either side of their trousers.

The Overhunting is not efficient or profitable, given the expenses of train and railroad maintenance, and how the prisoner transport train might only be used a few times in a year, but the higher ups responsible consider it worth the cost. Additionally, trains are one of the easiest types of vehicle to ambush, as if one knows the route in advance they can remove pieces of the track to derail the train. In telling the drivers to make a trip 'safe and reliable', the real intent conveyed from the higher ups to the drivers is apparently to keep going full speed ahead regardless of changing lights or crossing malfunction, such that if someone tried to attack and release the prisoners, it would only result in an accident that would kill everyone aboard - sending a suicidal message to would-be attackers that they wouldn't get what they want so they shouldn't even try, effectively telling the drivers to ensure they die along with the criminals if anything happens. As such, driving the Overhunting earns a hefty bonus on top of ordinary pay, with a 30 minute trip apparently earning a driver enough to buy a cruiser.

For the trip on December 29th, the two drivers in the front car were a younger male newcomer Matsuriba and an older female driver, who had been working on the railways for at least a decade. The female driver was a rail enthusiast and had taken the job mainly due to the rarity of armored trains such as the Overhunting.

Chronology

Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index

Post-Handcuffs Arc

Main article: Post-Handcuffs Arc

This section requires expansion GT5 Ch3

On December 29th, the Overhunting was being used to transport survivors of Operation Handcuffs, namely Hanatsuyu Youen, Benizome Jellyfish and Rakuoka Houfu, from School District 1 to the unofficial station below the Special Criminal Adult Correctional Facility in School District 10. The schedule called for the train to depart at 17:00, travelling south from District 1, passing through School District 7 on its way to its destination, a trip which would take approximately 30 minutes.

However, due to sabotage, the Overhunting ended up out of control and colliding with the Delivery Go Round at District 7's South Station at around 17:20, issuing a break alert. The front car took the brunt of the impact and was crushed, though the driver compartment was not crushed to the extent of killing the drivers. The rest of the train remained relatively intact, with guards and prisoners surviving, though the prisoners were able to escape as a result.

Due to the effects of Alice Anotherbible's Live Adventures in Wonderland, there were two iterations of events after the crash. In the first, affected version, the driver Matsuriba described to Shirai Kuroko a sudden loss of control, and apparently multiple safety devices had malfunctioned, including the electromagnetic brakes. These malfunctions would subsequently be associated with the influence of the artificial ghost Frillsand #G. In the second, unaffected version, the driver said that it was not a problem with the train and not a simple brake malfunction, saying that it would never crash at full speed unless there was a conflict between the train's own controls and the track's automatic brakes. Overhearing this, Kamijou Touma followed the trail along the tracks and found evidence of sabotage over 300m away.