New Airline Security Plan

[Anonymous]

Greetings

Will the new airline passenger background security requirement mean an increase in Amtrak rider ship?

[kenneo]

Probably. The old one has.

[RudyRockvilleMD]

The plan has not been implemented yet, but if it is, it could increase Amtrak's ridership mostly in the short haul corridors such as the Northeast Corridor, the Empire Corridor, and possibly the San Francisco - Bakersfield Corridor. I wouldn't be too surprised if the plan was challenged in court as an invasion of privacy.

[kenneo]

Longhaul trains are almost all up double digits. So, who knows. Wait and see.

[Anonymous]

I can see an increase on the NEC. The Philly airport is dominated by USAir and the wait can be a killer. If you fly mid morning til 8pm 3 hours is not uncommon.

[rrnut282]

As a former airline employee, most of these securtiy measures either don't make a lot of sense (too complicated to work as intended) or have too many holes in them to be truly effective. Most are just window dressing intended to provide a false sense of security. If we had the high speed rail network in place right about now, it would recieve a well deserved increase in passengers. Maybe now is the time to push your congressman in that direction.

[Anonymous]

I think it will cause Amtrak ridership to go thru the roof and I will not fly anymore it is an invasion of privacy and Amtrak would never do such a thing

[AntonioFP45]

[:)]It's great that Amtrak's numbers are finally increasing to the point where even the hard nosed bueraucrats that wear "blinders" are noticing. I wonder what Sen. John McCain,[X-)] who is very "Anti-Amtrak" thinks now. I've enjoyed all of my Amtrak rides.[:D]

One thing though that should come to mind: [%-)]We're praising the fact that passenger trains are not being as scrutinized thoroughly security wise. Since these terrorists cowards know that the numbers are increasing, couldn't Amtrak become more of a target?[sigh]

[dharmon]

The airlines security measures are in place to be a deterent as much as they are an actual means to catch things before they happen. No system is fool proof. We can't have both tighter security and quicker, less intrusive means of doing it. Someone's goning to complain no matter what level is in place.

As far as the targeting of Amtrak itself....passenger trains in and of themselves don't really achieve the level damage and mass hysteria that an airliner does...particularly when it is used as a cruise missile. That is not to say that trains have not been targets. In the 70s a Dutch train was hijacked and there was the case in Japan of the Sarin gas attack in the subway. Trains just don't produce juicy and glamorous targets. Train stations on the other hand and other public venues do, where mass casualties can be produced with a bomb or toxic agent. Along those lines, a rail terminal serving a petrolium or chemical site could produce the desired results also. I am not going to say that Amtrak is not a target, but I would say probably less likely so than other soft targets.

[techguy57]

I gotta ditto what Dan has said. Amtrak, as well as the NEC and other passenger/commuter lines are not what the government would consider high priority targets. Thats not to say they aren't potential targets but in general less likely because they generally don't cause the same level of damage. Unlike airplanes, trains are obviously on fixed paths and in the event of a wreck the debris does not often have the potential to do damage to a ten mile or so radius. It seems that so far the terror attacks here have been to make a political point or to inflict as much damage as possible, or in the case of 9/11 to do both.

Regardless, if it gets to the point we see the types of attacks here that have gone on in Israel and Iraq trains, buses, ferries, and the like could very well end up being targets, which is terrible to imagine. Hopefully it never comes to that.

I will be interested to see if this new system actually comes to fruition. Seems to me that the ACLU will be up in arms much like they were when the national IDs were talked about just after 9/11. As with the IDs I think that the ideas might have some value but I doubt the system will.

Mike

[UPTRAIN]

I hope but Uncle Sam needs to put more money into AMERICA'S TRAIN, and the RAILROADS need to give amtrash..I mean amtrak PRIORITY!!!!