By Christine Hauser, The New York Times
Officials in the United States tightened security at railroads today as a precaution after 10 bombs ripped through commuter trains in Spain Thursday, killing nearly 200 people and wounding more than one thousand in rush-hour attacks some Spaniards called their country’s “9/11.”
While some officials in the United States said today they knew of no specific threats against American targets, the shock waves from the bomb blasts in Madrid continued to reverberate across the Atlantic.
The explosions were the deadliest terrorist attack on a European target since World War II.
While transportation authorities in the United States had increased security measures after 9/11, the Madrid attacks have prompted them to increase patrols and vigilance.
Thousands of miles of train tracks crisscross the United States, feeding millions of commuters into major cities every day.
A spokesman for Amtrak, which owns 700 miles of railroad track in the northeastern United States, said dog and police patrols were intensified, as were reinforcements of procedures on suspicious activity, such as reporting of unattended baggage.
“We have instituted additional protective countermeasures in the last 24 hours,” said the spokesman, Dan Stessel. “They were taken in the absence of any specific or credible threat against Amtrak but in the wake of the Madrid incident.”
Mr. Stessel also said Amtrak was reinforcing guidelines for employees to report suspicious activity. “If you see someone leave a package and walk away that should really set off red flags,” he said.
Besides streaming along the busy Northeast Corridor route from Washington to Boston, Amtrak trains use more than 20,000 miles, some of which is owned by other rail companies, elsewhere in the country.
Since 9/11, the company has conducted increased random dog and hand searches of checked baggage as well as requiring passengers to show identification with a photograph.
Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates public transportation in the New York area, said uniformed forces and canine patrols were increased at Grand Central and Penn stations, as well as in other “sensitive security areas” like elevated rail lines.
The Chicago Transit Authority, which oversees more than 220 miles of subway and elevated rail tracks as well as 2,273 miles of bus routes serving Chicago and 40 suburbs, is stepping up a security tactic borrowed from the New York system, said a spokesperson, Noelle Gaffney.
The authority is making sure there are signs in buses and trains that read, “If you see something, say something” to remind passengers to report suspicious packages or people.
“We are making sure every rail car or bus has them,” said Ms. Gaffney.
New measures include radio broadcasts to employees to report suspicious activity as well as requesting they wear high-visibility vests to make reporting easier for passengers, she said.
These measures were implemented “over the last 24 hours in response to heightened awareness because of the Madrid incidents,” Ms. Gaffney said.
The Spanish authorities initially blamed the Basque separatist group ETA. But after finding a van near Madrid with detonators and a tape of Koran verses, they held open the possibility of Islamic terrorism.
A group claiming links to Al Qaeda took responsibility for the attacks in a letter delivered to an Arabic newspaper, but an American counterterrorism official said the claim should be viewed skeptically.
Spain, an American ally in the war on Iraq, has 1,300 troops stationed there and was explicitly threatened in an audiotape last October reportedly made by Osama bin Laden.