The centerpiece of the inspection strategy will be a portable explosive-residue detector. About the size of a loaf of bread, the tabletop detector will be set up in stations, and passengers will be randomly selected for inspection, Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said yesterday. Inspectors will wipe a piece of specially treated material over luggage and put the swab into the reader. If the meter displays a positive reading, the luggage will be opened for inspection.
A passenger who declines to submit to inspection will not be permitted to board. Those who refuse to open their luggage after a positive reading may be subject to additional penalties, Black said.
Between 1995 and 2005, there were more than 250 terrorist attacks against rail targets worldwide, resulting in nearly 900 deaths. Deadly terrorist bombings on trains in Madrid, London and Mumbai since 2004 have demonstrated the hazards associated with rail systems, with their open boarding, frequent stops, and large passenger loads.
Those attacks "highlight the vulnerabilities of passenger rail systems and make clear that even when security precautions are put in place, these systems remain vulnerable to attack," the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded in a report to Congress last year.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) acknowledged in a recent report that "a potential terrorist attack on public transportation systems can result in a large number of victims, thereby achieving its desired effect. . . . Terrorists choose high-visibility targets with high casualty potentialities and opportunities for captivating images of fires, smoke, wrecked vehicles, and bloodied passengers."
