(The Associated Press circulated the following story on March 30.)
SELMA, N.C. — An Amtrak train was stopped and searched Tuesday in Selma after the company received a bomb threat, delaying the northbound trip by about two hours, Amtrak offcials said.
Two other Amtrak trains were searched in Florida and Philadelphia because of the threat.
Each of the trains was searched by bomb-sniffing dogs who turned up no evidence of explosives, Amtrak said.
The northbound Palmetto carrying 144 passengers stopped at the station in Selma around noon. Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said the train was allowed to continue after the search.
“Unfortunately, bomb threats of this nature are fairly common,” Black said. “They cause delay and inconvenience, but it’s something we have to deal with.”
A Silver Meteor train was stopped in Sebring, Fla., near the start of its northbound run. The other Silver Meteor was searched in Philadelphia, near the end of its 27-hour trip to New York, Amtrak said.
Black said while there’s heightened awareness about train travel in the wake of a terrorist attack in Madrid, Spain, Amtrak didn’t change its procedures.
A bomb threat also prompted searches Tuesday of four Northwest Airlines planes at airports in Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, and Memphis, Tenn.
Government officials stressed the threat was not considered credible and the searches were done out of an abundance of caution.
“Any time we have this type of information we have to take it seriously,” Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Amy von Walter said. She was not sure how the threat was conveyed.
Each plane was taken to a secure area to be checked.