One of the punchlines of President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union address had to do with high-speed rail: “For some trips,” he said to “laughter and applause,” “it will be faster than flying–without the pat-down.”
Now the Transportation Security Administration has announced a new policy that will eliminate this frequently used but inane argument for high-speed rail. Under the new policy, “trusted flyers” whose names were drawn from airline frequent-flyer lists would have a special bar code printed on their boarding passes. This would make them eligible to go through a fast lane without removing shoes, taking laptops out of their cases, and passing through an ordinary metal detector rather than a full body scanner.
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Meanwhile, in response to evidence that Bin Laden was planning to derail American trains on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Senator Charles Schumer has proposed to increase Amtrak security, including a “no-ride list” for possible terrorists (although it isn’t clear how a no-ride list would stop someone from derailling trains).
To Amtrak’s credit, it has worked hard to keep TSA from interfering with its operations (and probably could do so only because it, unlike the airlines, is a government agency with strong defenders in Congress). But, despite the government lethargy that seems to dominate TSA, it is only a matter of time before security delays at airports are no different than at train stations, thus eliminating one more lame argument for high-speed trains.
Antiplanner:
To Amtrak’s credit, it has worked hard to keep TSA from interfering with its operations (and probably could do so only because it, unlike the airlines, is a government agency with strong defenders in Congress).
No, its because Amtrak is a private corporation with its own private police force running on private property. Amtrak’s common stock is owned by the major freight railroads and Carl Lindner, who bought out the Penn Central’s share. Amtrak is not a government agency. Its employees are not federal employees.
And before someone argues the stock is worthless, remember the vast real estate holdings Amtrak has between Boston and Washington, as well as in terminals in Chicago, Michigan, LA, Florida, and elsewhere. This land and real property is clearly worth billions if liquidated.
it is only a matter of time before security delays at airports are no different than at train stations
I can walk into the train station a couple of minutes before train time, buy a ticket, and get on the train. There is no security theater needed, because trains cannot be hijacked by the passengers, and even in the worst train accidents (and terrorist attacks), most people on board survive. Has there ever even been a train accident in which more than 100 people died? I don’t think so, despite the capacity and ridership of most trains being similar to a wide body jet. That will simply never happen at an airport because of the nature of airplanes. It certainly has not been that way since the Cuban hijackings.
Generally speaking, one needs to get to the airport about 1 hour before the flight to get the plane, just like it was before 9/11, and it takes no more than 5 or 10 minutes to pass through security. The security nightmares of 30-45 minute lines in my experience (and I say this having taken 100+ flights in the past 18 months) are limited to incompetently run checkpoints and a couple of very poorly thought out airport security layouts in places like Orlando, Philadelphia Terminal D-E, and Chicago Midway. Surprisingly, I’ve found most of these problem security points are at busy Southwest Airlines terminals. Maybe because Air-Greyhound and its hoi-polloi customer base, and Orlando Airport have the worst security lines is why there is this general myth of terrible security procedures among so many casual flyers.
“Has there ever even been a train accident in which more than 100 people died? I don’t think so…”
Think again. Or just think. The level of pontification on this site is astounding and exhausting. It only took .19 seconds of searching and one click to disprove the unsupported assertion above.
Frank:
I guess I should have specified that I meant train wrecks in the US just in case someone didn’t realize I was talking about the situation in our country. It is to be expected that in countries which do not value safety and human life, like say India, Pakistan, and various communist countries, and where people are allowed to do crazy things like riding on top of train cars, that there would be disasters where hundreds die.
In the US, safety is top focus of air and rail transportation, resulting in the amazing safety record these modes possess in comparison to the chaos and carnage of the road.
“It is to be expected that in countries which do not value safety and human life, like say India, Pakistan, and various communist countries, and where people are allowed to do crazy things like riding on top of train cars, that there would be disasters where hundreds die.”
Please. A third of the accidents with over 100 fatalities happened in Japan and non-communist Europe. Accidents happen, regardless of unsupported sweeping generalizations about the supposed values of diverse countries with over a billion inhabitants. It’s just more pontification to cover for a lazy rhetorical device.
Though Frank you have an axe to grind, no mode is 100% safe.
It’s true. I do have an ax to grind. It’s quite large and useful for splitting campfire wood. I’ll be doing a lot of ax grinding and splitting this summer as I drive in my Jeep to at least four national parks within a day’s drive. Only one of those parks are accessible by train, and it’s the ONLY western NP that has a train station. Then there’s all the National Forest land within a day’s drive. Millions and millions of acres to crawl through with my Jeep, searching for seclusion and a beautiful place to squat for a couple of weeks. I just can’t wait!