TSA searches for solutions to shore up rail security

The Transportation Security Administration launched a pilot program Monday in an effort to improve porous security in the rail transit system.

Passengers and baggage at a suburban Maryland rail transit station will be screened for explosives for 30 days, after which TSA will evaluate whether the program should continue. Called the Transit and Rail Inspection Pilot, the program will determine what kind of technology and processes might thwart terrorist attacks within rail systems, said Asa Hutchinson, the Homeland Security Department's undersecretary for border and transportation security.

"There will be a debate as to what is the proper level of security in the subway systems and in our passenger rail systems," Hutchinson said. "One of the benefits of testing this is to get the consumer reaction and the public-policy maker's reaction, and there will be a continued debate as to exactly what we should deploy. But if there's not something that's going to work, there's not going to be very many plans of putting it out there in operation."

Homeland Security Department Secretary Tom Ridge announced the pilot program on March 22, less than two weeks after bombs ripped through the commuter transit system in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and injuring more than 1,500 others. Public transportation authorities in the United States estimate they need about $6 billion in improvements on top of about $1.7 billion in investments made since 9/11. Last month, the Association of Public Transit Authorities called on Congress to provide an additional $2 billion in the DHS fiscal 2005 budget to improve security for millions of transit riders.

Hutchinson said the department has the legal authority to require stations throughout the country to implement screening systems, but has no plans to do so at this time. He said it is not feasible to impose the intense screening regime used at the nation's airports on the country's thousands of transit stations.

"There's not any intention to deploy this in the subway systems of the United States," Hutchinson said. "It's to develop the capability so we'll know how to handle these things in the future in the event we have a specific threat or we have to change our way of thinking. We have to think in advance and be ahead of the curve."

The program will screen passengers boarding either Amtrak or Maryland Rail Commuter trains at the New Carrollton station outside Washington during weekday rush hours in the mornings and afternoons, and during the afternoon on Sunday. Amtrak and MARC estimate that about 1,000 passengers board trains there each day.

Passengers will be required to walk through an EntryScan3 explosives trace detection machine, which is manufactured by General Electric. The machine takes an air sampling to detect for explosives. Additionally, passenger bags will be put through a mini CTX machine manufactured by L3 Communications. Officials said they have no plans at this time to detect for other threats, such as chemical or biological agents. Canine units will also be on hand to aid in the search for explosives.

Because the pilot program focuses on explosives, passengers will be able to carry many items through the checkpoint that are prohibited on aircraft, such as scissors and pocketknives. Unlike airport screening, passengers will not need to remove cell phones, keys, change or other metal objects before being screened.

Passengers boarding the Washington-area Metrorail system from the New Carrollton station will not be screened.

Maryland officials said Monday they were happy that the pilot program was started.

Jim Ports, Maryland's Transportation Department assistant secretary, said it is coincidental that the start of the pilot program came so soon after the Madrid bombings.

"The Madrid incident obviously escalated the awareness of that need so now they're ready to roll this out," Ports said. "But I can tell you that we had conversations with TSA about possible pilot programs before the Madrid incident. It was in the works well beforehand."

He said Maryland is comfortable with the amount of funding it has received from the federal government for transit security, adding that the pilot will be used in combination with other security practices, such as canine units, local police and cameras.

"It's not just one type of technology that's going to get you through this crisis," he said. "What we're doing is we're looking at all the technologies, assessing the risk and the reward, and we're going to move forward on that. Right now, we feel pretty good about the amount of money we've received."