U.S. Rails Respond To Madrid Tragedy With High Security

Apr 1, 2004 12:00 PM

Amtrak and regional and municipal rail systems around the country increased security significantly after railway terrorist bombings in Madrid killed nearly 200 people.

According to The Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin advising state officials, police, transit and rail agencies to consider additional surveillance.

The message prompted additional security measures around the country. Among them:

• Officers and bomb-sniffing dogs are patrolling subway and train stations in the New York metropolitan area.

• Connecticut state troopers have begun riding commuter trains between New Haven and New York City.

• Officers in SWAT gear and bomb-sniffing dogs were dispatched to subway stations in Washington, D.C., and riders were asked to be extra vigilant and report any suspicious packages or people.

Homeland security and law enforcement officials say they have no specific intelligence indicating terrorists are planning a transit attack in the United States. But as recently as Jan. 28, the FBI issued a bulletin to state and local law enforcement officials describing “a continued terrorist interest” in striking American rail systems.

“We do know that al-Qaida looks to hit us, hit us hard, and that mass transit is something they've consistently referenced,” Asa Hutchinson, border and transportation security chief at the Homeland Security Department, says.

The government has also begun testing ways to screen rail passengers and luggage to see if it can quickly and accurately detect security risks this spring, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge says.

Ridge said the project would take place at a yet-to-be-determined Amtrak commuter rail station. He stressed that the procedures won't resemble security checkpoints at airports.

“We cannot apply an aviation standard to railroads and mass transit,” he said. “The security environment for trains will never resemble aviation.”

Homeland security officials say the purpose of the project would be to test new technologies and screening concepts to see if they could be applied to trains, which depend on passengers being able to get on and off cars quickly.

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