(The following story by Terri Sanginiti appeared on The News Journal website on March 21.)
WILMINGTON, Del. — Terry O’Connor was rushing to catch a train Thursday morning when he was selected at random by Amtrak police to have his carry-on bag screened for potential explosive residue.
O’Connor, 52, of Avondale, Pa., passed the quick swab test with flying colors and dashed up the stairs of the Wilmington Train Station’s platform in plenty of time to make his train.
The new security measure is aimed at thwarting any chance of a terrorist bombing on the nation’s rail lines.
“I don’t mind people searching me,” O’Connor said. “They’re actually better than airport security.”
Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., flanked by Amtrak, state and city police officials, reviewed the latest security measures aimed at ensuring the safety of passengers. Since 2004, terrorist cells have successfully bombed major rail systems in Madrid and London, killing a total of 450 people and wounding 2,800.
The U.S. rail system has not seen any loss of life from a terrorist event, but that doesn’t mean the rails are not potential targets, officials said. Castle has long been an advocate in Congress for improved rail security.
On Thursday, Mobile Security Team officers set up a baggage screening post at the boarding gate at the Wilmington station and swabbed random passengers’ carry-on bags with a credit-card-size cloth.
The cloth then was slipped into a small black box called an explosive trace detector to see if there were microscopic amounts of explosive material on it.
The procedure took less than a minute and the passenger was on his or her way.
Amtrak Officer Joseph Jackson, who was screening passengers Thursday, said the selection process is random and does not take into consideration age or race. Officers try to make the process quick so passengers don’t miss their trains.
These unannounced, random screenings have been implemented in recent weeks at stations mainly along the Northeast Corridor, said Joe Crane, national commander of the Mobile Security Team.
The new measures supplement existing train station security, which includes Amtrak and local police patrols, with dogs, counter-terrorism agents and armed special tactical officers on the platform.
Amtrak passenger Susan Reinhardt, of Bel Air, Md., said she was a bit unsettled Thursday seeing SWAT officers armed with automatic weapons on the platform.
Reinhardt said she felt like she was in another country, but she approved of the additional security measures.
“It makes me feel secure,” she said, as she and her husband waited for the train to New York. “It’s been a while since any terrorist event occurred and I believe we’re overdue. I wish there was more security.”
Castle said he rides the train every day from Wilmington to Washington, when Congress is in session.
“To be candid, you don’t think much about it when you’re riding the train from day to day,” he said. “But it’s potentially there on the train to discourage those who might bring harm.”
And the quick screening is not as imposing as airline security, he said.
Yet, Castle said the nation’s rail lines are still underfunded.
Last year, Congress raised rail and transit security funding from $175 million to $400 million. But the president’s 2009 budget calls for lowering that amount to the $175 million figure of 2007.