New rail security plan to be tested

[question everything]

WASHINGTON – The Transportation Security Administration plans to begin testing techniques for improving passenger rail security at a Maryland station served by Amtrak and commuter trains that run between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

The agency will screen passengers, but not the way it is done at airports. "It is not going to be as invasive as airport screening is," said Dan Stessel, a spokesman for Amtrak. "No one will be asked to remove their belt or shoes."

The new program, called the Transit and Rail Inspection Pilot, or TRIP, will begin next month. Its focus is not guns or knives, but bombs, according to officials. Techniques could include bomb-sniffing dogs or electronic detectors, they said.

The station at New Carrollton, Md., was chosen because it is convenient to the Department of Homeland Security's Washington headquarters and because its platforms are elevated, making it easy to control access so passengers can be screened before the train arrives.

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Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040416/news_1n16trains.html

[On the Road]

1. Geez, That's My Station and I Use It Every Couple of Months

Hope it is not too intrusive. Rail travel is so much better than air for 250 miles or less.