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Come to Amtrak; we don’t undress you, we don't mess with you.

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Old Aug 9, 2011, 9:30 pm
  #1  
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Come to Amtrak; we don’t undress you, we don't mess with you.

In a nation divided on almost every issue, there is one topic which brings almost universal agreement: travelers hate the experience they face at America's airports. Security is slow, inefficient, and at times downright humiliating, they complain.
Amtrak's "scanners" are dogs.......
"The machines would literally shut the system down," says John O’Connor, the Chief of the Amtrak Police. "You can put a canine in literally thousands of people moving through very quickly. And that dog will be able to detect if somebody has explosives."
Michael Chertoff would be well advised to take his Rapiscan money and invest in Kennels.^

http://www.nbcchicago.com/traffic/tr...127367433.html
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Old Aug 9, 2011, 9:32 pm
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Originally Posted by Wimpie
Michael Chertoff would be well advised to take his Rapiscan money and invest in Kennels.^

http://www.nbcchicago.com/traffic/tr...127367433.html
Kind of a red herring since you don't have to be on a train to blow it up. However, it's a valid marketing tool.
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Old Aug 9, 2011, 11:15 pm
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Originally Posted by Pesky Monkey
Kind of a red herring since you don't have to be on a train to blow it up. However, it's a valid marketing tool.
The point is that dogs are capable of performing the same functions as million dollar machines, arguably in a more expedient and less intrusive manner.
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 1:25 am
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Funny, though, I have never seen a dog assessing travelers on Amtrak. In fact, at most of the Amtrak stops I've been to, security is seemingly nil. I really appreciate the lack of pretense to security, though the inconsistencies in the Amtrak system seem pretty widespread.

At any rate, on the last trip I took, I opted for Amtrak (24 hours of travel each way) specifically to avoid the TSA and their shenanigans. And the airline's baggage fees.
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 2:10 am
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Given that the TSA has been known to show up at Amtrak (and other transit) stations at random to conduct shakedowns, this seems of limited benefit.
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 3:24 am
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Originally Posted by Wimpie
In a nation divided on almost every issue, there is one topic which brings almost universal agreement: travelers hate the experience they face at America's airports. Security is slow, inefficient, and at times downright humiliating, they complain.
Amtrak's "scanners" are dogs.......
"The machines would literally shut the system down," says John O’Connor, the Chief of the Amtrak Police. "You can put a canine in literally thousands of people moving through very quickly. And that dog will be able to detect if somebody has explosives."
Michael Chertoff would be well advised to take his Rapiscan money and invest in Kennels.^

http://www.nbcchicago.com/traffic/tr...127367433.html
Funny - I was thinking of something else Chertoff could do with his Rapiscan money...
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 8:00 am
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Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much
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Funny - I was thinking of something else Chertoff could do with his Rapiscan money...
He would have to remove his head first.
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 8:05 am
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wrong thread, sorry, please delete

Last edited by FlyingHoustonian; Aug 10, 2011 at 8:06 am Reason: wrong thread
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 9:55 am
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It would be kind of pointless to have TSA style security at Amtrak when all any smart terrorist would have to do is attack the thousands of miles of unguarded track. Kind of hard to make a missile out of a train, though.
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 9:56 am
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Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much
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Funny - I was thinking of something else Chertoff could do with his Rapiscan money...
Bet the NoS would never find it there....
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 10:31 am
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Originally Posted by stifle
Given that the TSA has been known to show up at Amtrak (and other transit) stations at random to conduct shakedowns, this seems of limited benefit.
Chances of running into TSA at an airport? 100%.

Chances of running into TSA at a train station? <1%. <.001% now after Savannah. ^
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 11:39 am
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Originally Posted by Mama24
Funny, though, I have never seen a dog assessing travelers on Amtrak. In fact, at most of the Amtrak stops I've been to, security is seemingly nil. I really appreciate the lack of pretense to security, though the inconsistencies in the Amtrak system seem pretty widespread.
Originally Posted by JoeBas
Chances of running into TSA at an airport? 100%.

Chances of running into TSA at a train station? <1%. <.001% now after Savannah. ^
Come to Union Station in DC (WAS). Ride the Acela. Usually it's Amtrak cops running the bag ransacks, but there are usually TSA folks there or nearby. Not every time, but for a while it was 25% of the trips.

They would have folks entering the platform walk past dogs, and they have been known to walk dogs through the train just before departure.
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 11:55 am
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Security while boarding a cross country train is just a shining example of how the federal security system is a joke and completely useless. It's there to pacify the masses. As stated above, there are thousands and thousands of unguarded track. Why on Earth would a bad guy bother to try and sneak something onto the train?
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 2:16 pm
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Originally Posted by Global_Hi_Flyer
Come to Union Station in DC (WAS). Ride the Acela. Usually it's Amtrak cops running the bag ransacks, but there are usually TSA folks there or nearby. Not every time, but for a while it was 25% of the trips.

They would have folks entering the platform walk past dogs, and they have been known to walk dogs through the train just before departure.
Union station in DC (WAS) is the belly of the beast. Of course there's going to be TSA there... SUPERVISED and under the auspices of Amtrak PD, who limit their entire operation to bag searches only.

25% in one station, vs. the REST of the country. I regularly depart from 30th st, and by going through Club Acela have not even been blinked at, once... even on the oh-so-dangerous NE Corridor.

I also regularly travel THROUGH WAS, and while my bag in the baggage car may be packed with AMFO with a double-decker MARC or VRE train right next to the car, never been bothered.

In short, travel by air - you're guaranteed interaction with TSA. Travel by train? You're no more likely to encounter them than you would be to be pulled over driving.

Of course, as always, YMMV.
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 3:05 pm
  #15  
 
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Originally Posted by BillForster
Security while boarding a cross country train is just a shining example of how the federal security system is a joke and completely useless. It's there to pacify the masses. As stated above, there are thousands and thousands of unguarded track. Why on Earth would a bad guy bother to try and sneak something onto the train?
And worst of all, I know Walt Disney made an instruction manual for blowing up the railroad tracks. I saw it in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
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