(The following article by Shawn Menzies appeared in Today’s Sunbeam on March 27.)
CAMDEN, N.J. — Although the New York-based Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to issue gas masks for train and track employees, a similar agency in the Delaware Valley said it has no plans to follow suit.
Steve Coleman, spokesman for the PANYNJ, which operates the rail line called the Port Authority Trans-Hudson, said the move to provide the gas masks to its conductors, maintenance workers and engineers was strictly proactive.
“We wanted to provide security to our employees and passengers,” Coleman said. “We have stepped up patrols, canine patrols and have hired additional security guards to be the eyes and ears of the police. This is just another measure that is prudent because our rail system is underground, similar to a subway system, and with war and the threat existing of a biological attack, we felt it was prudent to apply gas masks so train operators can get trains and passengers out of harm’s way.
Coleman said 300 masks have been purchased at a cost of $150 each. Employees of the PANYNJ have undergone three hours of gas masks training.
At the Delaware River Port Authority, which owns and operates four bridges and the Port Authority Transit Corporation’s Speedline, spokeswoman My Linh Nguyen said the DRPA has not taken the same approach.
“Back after Sept. 11, 2001, we formed an internal security task force. We looked at, and continue to look at, everything to tighten security,” Nguyen said. “When the nation came up with the color code, we did the same. We mirrored that color code. We have prepared a different set of protocol for the alerts. So when the color level went to orange, so did we and we immediately implemented what we planned to do.”
Nguyen said during the higher levels of alert those who use any of the DRPA’s bridges or trains will see an increased DRPA police presence.
More than 36,000 riders use the PATCO Speedline on a daily basis, which runs every 4 to 6 minutes during rush-hour periods and every 20 minutes during off-peak hours. The PATCO Speedline makes four stops in Philadelphia and nine in New Jersey. All Philadelphia stops are underground and two stops on the New Jersey side are also underground.
“We are in constant communication with law-enforcement agencies from the local level to the federal level,” Nguyen said. “We base our security on intelligence we get from these agencies.”