Passenger and luggage screening hits the rails

Nov 7, 2006 3:28 PM

New York passengers boarding Amtrak trains will be among the first in the nation to be subject to random screenings by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as part of a pilot security program.

Another part of the pilot program focuses on luggage screening. Screeners with handheld explosives detectors will check bags of passengers boarding Amtrak and Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority trains, Brett O'Neil, TSA customer support manager for the Buffalo region, tells Bloomberg News.

The program will help prepare for possible threats or attacks. U.S. railroads began raising security in 2004 after the Madrid train bombings, and increased those efforts after the London subway and bus bombings in July 2005.

The TSA screened train passengers outside Washington in May 2004 and randomly checked riders in Philadelphia in July in tests similar to the one that will be conducted in Buffalo, spokeswoman Ann Davis says.

For passenger screening, security personnel will use hand-held devices to check Amtrak passengers for traces of explosives. People using Metro Rail trains in Buffalo will also be subject to the screenings.

Travelers who refuse to comply with the 30-second screenings will be barred from getting on Amtrak trains and the Metro Rail system.

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