The great advantage of high-speed rail, the promoters tell us, is that there is no need for going through security when you ride the rails, unlike at airports where delays through security add many minutes to your total trip time.
Well, guess again. The need for rail security is not new, but will continue to increase profoundly, especially with high-speed trains insofar as they become highly valuable high-visibility targets for terrorists.
In the article below, from Forbes, even the Amtrak President, Joseph Boardman, indicates the urgent need for increased security awareness for passenger rail. That will become even more so for high-speed rail. Count on it.
Luggage checks, passenger screening, and whatever new search technologies become available for air terminals will be found at high-speed rail train stations as well. The much vaunted trip times of HSR will be reduced such that whatever time advantages over flying existed in theory, will be gone in reality.
=================================
Associated Press
Amtrak chief: Trains more vulnerable than planes
By JOAN LOWY , 05.17.11, 01:12 PM EDT
WASHINGTON -- Amtrak President Joseph Boardman says he wants to step up security patrols of the passenger rail network and explore new technologies able to provide advance warning of track tampering following revelations that al Qaida considered attacking U.S. trains.
Boardman told a Senate panel Tuesday that the agency has expanded its use of explosive-sniffing dogs and is in close contact with U.S. and international security agencies.
He said promising ultrasonic and laser technologies may enable detection of track problems far ahead of trains. But he cautioned that trains are more vulnerable to attack than planes because terrorists have more ability to access trains and track.
He said more patrols of tracks are needed to identify specific points of vulnerability.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
