U.N. shooter rode Amtrak CHI-NYP

[Superliner Diner]

A man who took shots at the U.N.'s Secretariat Building in New York, then threw some leaflets around, transported his gun on an Amtrak train from Chicago, it was learned today. The moron even bought a round trip ticket, thinking he would not be caught and would take the train back to Chicago!

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/59068.htm

This is a gun Amtrak doesn't need on its trains!

Do you think, as the article mentions, that this incident could bring about the mandatory inspections of all passengers and baggage before they can board a train?

 

[Viewliner]

Yeah, there should only be one Gunn on Amtrak. :lol:

 

[Amfleet]

Frankly I think that searches are really not needed on trains, unless the government will pay for it. Does anyone know what train that was out of Chicago?

 

[Superliner Diner]

The fact that there was a nutcase, an eventual sniper, on board an Amtrak train with a gun is more significant than which train it was.

That said, I think we're between just the Lake Shore Limited and the Three Rivers; I doubt this guy would have been intelligent enough to switch trains at Philadelphia or Washington.

I am sure people on that train, whichever one it was, will want to know if they rubbed elbows with him. Did he go sleeper or coach? Did they sit next to him in the diner if it was the Lake Shore? If he went first class, did he use the Metropolitan Lounge? This loose cannon could have snapped at any time if he saw somebody he did not like. He was on some sort of mission when he travelled to New York.

 

[tp49]

Do you think, as the article mentions, that this incident could bring about the mandatory inspections of all passengers and baggage before they can board a train?

My first thought goes to feasability, is it feasable to check every passenger at every stop on every train. Most stations except the major terminals do not have the ability to contain the passengers in one location or limit platform access to non-ticketed people.

The same situation comes to mind with Greyhound. While they do check people in certain locations they do not in others. For example, the last time I rode Greyhound they checked us in San Francisco; however, when I asked a passenger who boarded in Oakland if he was checked he said they never did.

Manpower and cost also have to be considered as reasons why if mandatory inspections are carried out they will only be done in a limited number of locations if at all.

 

[Superliner Diner]

Tp49,

By virtue of the way train platforms are laid out, I would have to agree. To contain people in at a small, out-of-the-way station you would have to fence in the entire platform, save for one entryway where this screening would take place. You would have to have an exit too, so that detraining passengers don't conflict with this process. And if you have a separate entrance and exit, you'll need a guard at the exit, like they have in every airport, to make sure nobody tries to pass the screening process.

In a bigger city, like New York, Chicago, Washington, DC etc. you have Amtrak trains sharing platforms with commuter trains. While it may be easier to control such a process because there are limited doors to the platforms, you would cause massive gridlock, something Penn Station in New York does not need any more of. Since commuters are constantly coming and going, at no time could they keep the platform area "sterile", even if Amtrak passengers are being scrutinized.

Imagine how many people you would need to conduct a screening process on every single Amtrak, LIRR, and NJ Transit passenger before he or she could board the train, and think how cumbersome it would be if everyone had to put their briefcases through the belt devices and walk through a metal detector?

In short, it simply won't work.

 

[tp49]

Superliner Diner

That would also eliminate my favorite sport the thirty seconds to catch the train, have to get down the stairs and on right now sprint for the doors. I must admit I've partaken in this a few times when I had to commute between LI and NYC.

Especially with the number of NYPD officers who ride the trains between Penn and LI on the LIRR the screener's would be stopping a lot of people.