(Newsday posted the following Associated Press article on its website on June 16.)
NEW YORK — Upgrading of anti-terrorist security in the century-old tunnels of Pennsylvania Station is on track but much more money is needed to complete the job, Sen. Charles Schumer said Monday.
Schumer, D-N.Y., said $77 million of an original $100 million allocated for the project has been spent and another $350 million will be required. He spoke after a tour of the facilities with Asa Hutchinson, the undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Their tour was designed to examine the changes that have been made since Sept. 11, 2001, and what remains to be accomplished in the nation’s busiest railroad station.
Schumer said the money has been used for sensors to detect chemical, biological and radioactive threats and explosives, intrusion alarms and an extensive television monitoring system covering all entrances at the sprawling station, which is owned by Amtrak and also serves New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road.
“The money we have has been well spent, and the money we need is much needed,” Schumer told reporters in the busy Amtrak concourse.
The further improvements would include three major air ventilation systems, a fire standpipe network and escape routes in the tunnels, some of which are 2 to 3 miles long.
Schumer envisioned a scenario in which a terrorist explosion in one of the tunnels could fill it with smoke and confusion, killing or injuring thousands of people unable to flee and perhaps even blowing back into the midtown Manhattan station itself.
He said the Bush administration has been “very good to New York” in providing funds for security.
“I’m a Democrat, and I think we should spend more on homeland security,” Schumer said. “But with most of the money, the president has been fair to New York. I don’t have any dispute with that.” Penn Station is used by some 400,000 local commuters and long-distance train travelers each day.