http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/06/news/top_stories/1_22_275_5_07.tx
t
Recent train bombings in London and Spain have underlined the importance of
rail safety.
On March 11, 2004, a series of coordinated bomb blasts targeted Madrid's
Cercanias train system, killing 191 people and wounding 2,050. A little more
than a year later, on July 7, 2005, coordinated terrorist bomb blasts
targeted the London Underground and bus systems, killing 52 and injuring
700.
Sprinter's security detail will differ from Coaster's
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By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer
OCEANSIDE -- Security for the east-west Sprinter light-rail line will rely
more heavily on roving patrols than on guards stationed on platforms, as is
the custom for the Coaster rail service.
The North County Transit District, which is building the 22-mile rail line
from Oceanside to San Diego, will add the equivalent of 17 full-time, armed
security personnel for the Sprinter. An additional deputy sheriff will also
join the district's existing security detail on contract, which watches over
the 62-mile Coaster commuter from Oceanside to San Diego.
David Papworth, director of the district's security department, said that
rail guards will also regularly ride Sprinter trains, though not every train
will have its own officer. Papworth declined to specify exactly how the
Sprinter's security detail would work.
"I can't get into exactly how we're going to deploy," he said.
He added that Sprinter security will rely heavily on video cameras at each
of the train's 15 stations. Each of those cameras will feed real-time video
to the Sprinter's central dispatch office where dedicated monitoring
personnel will watch for suspicious activities. Coaster stations are also
fitted with video cameras.
"We will have state-of-the-art surveillance systems at all of our stations
that will monitor 24 hours a day," Papworth said.
Recent train bombings in London and Spain have underlined the importance of
rail safety.
On March 11, 2004, a series of coordinated bomb blasts targeted Madrid's
Cercanias train system, killing 191 people and wounding 2,050. A little more
than a year later, on July 7, 2005, coordinated terrorist bomb blasts
targeted the London Underground and bus systems, killing 52 and injuring
700.
Though the Sprinter will not be anywhere near as large as either of those
two urban transit systems when it is completed at the end of the year,
security is still on the minds of policymakers such as Jerome Stocks, who
heads the transit district's Planning Committee. It was that committee that
selected a "midlevel" of security for the Sprinter.
Stocks said that posting a guard at each Sprinter station, as is done for
the Coaster, did not make good budget sense. He noted that the Coaster, with
six stations spread across 60 miles of track, is more suitable for
stationary security officers on platforms. With 15 stations in 22 miles,
Stocks said that it made better sense to have patrols visit stations rather
than having them stay in one place.
"We feel we left enough flexibility to be able to direct personnel where
they are needed without having to strip resources from other areas," Stocks
said.
He said that it would have cost "millions more" to adopt a higher level of
security for the Sprinter, but added that he and his fellow committee
members were not convinced that spending twice as much money would
necessarily make the new rail line twice as safe. As it is, the district
estimates the cost of Sprinter security to be $1.6 million per year.
"There was a sense of diminishing returns," Stocks said. "We are throwing
millions at (Sprinter security), but we need enough money to buy gas as
well."
Security for the San Diego Trolley are similar to those proposed for the
Sprinter.
Louise Gonzalez, a spokesman for the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Service
that runs the trolley and buses in central and southern San Diego County,
said Friday that roving patrols watch over 53 miles of track and ride the
bright-red electric vehicles as much as possible. He said that a grant from
the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration paid for three bomb-sniffing
dogs that officers regularly walk through the system's 53 stations.
"We always have one of them on call and they are out there patrolling very
regularly," Gonzalez said.
It was not clear whether the North County Transit District would use canines
to beef up its bomb-detecting capabilities.
In Northern California, a 42.2-mile light-rail line carries thousands of
commuters throughout the San Jose and Santa Clara region. Capt. Luther Pugh,
security director for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, said
rail security in his area relies on passengers as much as it does security
officers.
Pugh, a deputy sheriff on contract with the transportation authority, said
that the agency routinely reminds its passengers to look for suspicious
packages and passengers engaged in suspicious activities.
"We have had a couple of events recently where our customers have reported
events to us, and that information has panned out," Pugh said.
He said that passengers recently reported a man who boarded a train and made
verbal threats.
"He had strapped things to his body with electrician's tape, and you
couldn't really tell what they were," Pugh said.
After a bomb-sniffing dog was brought in to make sure the man was not
packing a bomb, Pugh said the man was found to be armed with "edged
weapons."
"Luckily, it did not escalate beyond verbal threats," he said.
Papworth was not available Friday to say whether the North County Transit
District will use bomb-sniffing dogs or a rider-notification system.
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