http://www.boston.com/news/daily/02/land_sea.htm

Vulnerability of land and sea transportation discussed at Senate hearing

By Jim Abrams, Associated Press, 10/02/01

WASHINGTON -- Senators said America's land and sea transportation systems are more vulnerable to terrorist attack than the nation's skies, and expressed frustration Tuesday with the pace of efforts to improve security.

"Tell that crowd they are not rapid and they are not responding," Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., told the Transportation Department's top security official at a hearing.

Adm. James Underwood, director of Transportation's Intelligence and Security Office, stressed that federal air, rail, port and highway officials, in coordination with private companies, have moved quickly to remove security threats since the Sept. 11 attacks.

He said individual rail companies have increased inspections at tunnels and bridges. Highway and motor carrier offices are heightening highway security, ensuring the safety of hazardous material transport and conducting background checks on drivers and shippers, Underwood said. The Coast Guard has called up 2,700 reservists to monitor ships arriving at the nation's seaports, he said, and steps are being taken to improve pipeline safety.

George D. Warrington, president and chief executive officer of Amtrak, said passengers must now present photo IDs. On-board ticket sales along the Washington-to-Boston corridor will soon be suspended, Warrington said, and a computer program has been created to cross-check ticket purchases against FBI watch lists.

But senators said there was still little to prevent a terrorist from carrying a bomb on board a train or inserting explosives in the cargo of a ship. Sen. John Breaux, D-La., chairman of the surface transportation subcommittee, said only two percent of containers at the nation's seaports are inspected.

More must be done in passenger and cargo transportation security, Breaux said, "because our system is open, accessible and operates in highly populated areas where severe damage can be caused."

"It strikes me that the railroads are far more vulnerable in many ways than our airplanes," said Sen. John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

Several senators asked Underwood why train stations weren't conducting baggage checks. He noted that many smaller stations in the country weren't manned and there were "serious resources constraints" to screening passengers and baggage as is done in airports.

Warrington said Amtrak was asking for $3.1 billion in federal aid to upgrade its security. He said the railway needed $1 billion to modernize tunnels in the New York, Washington and Baltimore regions, $531 million for security measures such as more police and security cameras, $949 million to handle increased traffic in the Northeast Corridor and $660 million for equipment to handle the increased demand nationwide.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said he supported the request, but Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the top Republican on the committee, was skeptical.

McCain said that Amtrak has reported increases in ridership since Sept. 11 and the subsequent decline in air travel, and he found it suspect that much of the money Amtrak said was for emergency needs was previously part of the railway's long-term business plans.

Meanwhile, the House Transportation Committee heard testimony that the attacks on the nation's airways made it even more important to pass a $71 billion proposal to develop and construct a high-speed rail system.

"The tragedies of Sept. 11, and the resulting short-term stoppage of air travel, demonstrated even more the need for transportation alternatives," said committee chairman Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska.

The bill, one of several introduced to expand high-speed rail service, would provide $36 billion for states or interstate compacts to issue federally tax-exempt bonds and increase to $35 billion the Railroad Rehabilitation and Infrastructure Financing program.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001