Federal Officials to Study Feasibility of Rail Passenger Screenings
By Sara Kehaulani Goo, The Washington Post
Federal officials said they would begin screening rail passengers at Maryland’s New Carrollton station next month to test new security technologies for protecting the nation’s rail system from a terrorist attack similar to last month’s bombings in Madrid.
The Transportation Security Administration, which overhauled airline security at the nation’s airports after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, said it will test a variety of screening technologies and methods to scan New Carrollton passengers and their luggage before they board Amtrak and MARC trains. At the station’s Metro platform, passengers will not undergo security screening, but Metro officials said they would step up patrols by explosive-detection teams.
The TSA has not decided whether the security screening, scheduled to begin the first week of May, will be mandatory, according to sources familiar with the program.
Rail passengers would not have to remove their shoes or undergo pat-down searches, which happens often at airport checkpoints. But their luggage could be checked for explosives by bomb-sniffing dogs or new technologies, agency spokesman Mark Hatfield said.
“You have a different security environment than airports, and you are defending against a different threat -- largely explosives,” Hatfield said. “We’re not going to be worried about a pair of scissors on a train, but we will be concerned about guns and bombs.”
TSA officials said they selected the New Carrollton station for the project because it has a variety of rail services and because it is convenient for officials from its Washington-based agency and the Department of Homeland Security to monitor.
Rail and transit officials have long called for security improvements, but it was only after the train bombings in Madrid on March 11 that Homeland Security officials announced firm plans to move ahead on screening passengers for explosives. In the bombings, terrorists detonated explosives hidden in backpacks and left on morning commuter trains and on tracks, killing about 200 people.
“We recognize the challenges of securing a system that is designed for public service and access, which is why we are implementing security programs to target the greatest risks and vulnerabilities,” Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.
Federal officials have acknowledged in news reports and in a confidential bulletin to law enforcement and transit authorities that the nation’s rail systems are vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The nation’s rail and transit systems are more difficult to protect because they involve multiple government entities, rail officials have said. They also point out that stations are built with numerous entrances and are designed to facilitate the quick movement of people.
TSA officials said the goal of the program, called Transit and Rail Inspection Pilot, is to test the effectiveness of new technologies, particularly outdoors, and to see whether the procedures would be too inconvenient for passengers.