Your papers please
 

Below if from Amtrak web site (http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Conten...54204&ssid=342) and was announced in my monthly statement e-mail. Has anyone seen a conductor ask a passenger for ID?



Amtrak has undertaken heightened security measures for the benefit of our customers.

Valid Photo Identification Required

Amtrak customers 18 years of age and older must produce valid photo identification when purchasing tickets (whether in stations or on board trains), and when checking baggage. Unaccompanied children 15 and older must also produce valid photo ID when purchasing tickets.

At the instruction of the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA), random ticket verification checks are regularly conducted on board trains to ensure that passengers are properly ticketed. Please be prepared to show a member of the on-board crew valid photo identification, if asked, in order to compare the name on the ticket with that on the ID.

To be valid, identification must be current and in-force. Acceptable valid identification includes the following:

State or provincial driver's license
Valid passport
Official government-issued identification (federal, state or county government or legitimate foreign government)
Canadian provincial health card ID card with photo
Military photo ID
Student identification (university, college or high school photo ID)
Job Corps photo ID
In general, if none of the above are available, two other forms of identification, at least one of which is issued by a legitimate government authority, are acceptable.

Policy Regarding Ticket Purchase

I can recall that a couple of years ago they were "gate checking" ALL pax I.D. @ WAS before we were allowed out to the Acela platform.

The conducter asked me for ID (first time ever) on my Acela ride earlier this week. I was in the first class car, dressed in a business suit, and with a business associate. He was apologetic. From what I've read the check is supposedly based on ticket number - it did not appear that he asked anyone else in the car. He did however look at the ID carefully and compare the picture to my handsome face.

What is the point of this ID check? How is this ever going to stop a terrorist attack?

12/24/04:

Penn Station - 30th Street PHL 620p - 742p #137 Regional
30th Street PHL - Exton 815p - 847p #655 Keystone

12/25/04:
Exton - 30th Street PHL 817p - 855p #614 Keystone
30th Street PHL - Penn Station 918p - 1045p #182 Regional

No ID checks (and I used AAA rate and no AAA card check).

I had my ID checked on an Acela ride around the Thanksgiving timeframe, but it hasn't happened again in the 4-5 Acela RT's I've made since then.

From Papers, Please:

"What does an ID, any ID, do for security? The honest answer is 'not much'. If anything, relying on ID for security purposes actually makes things worse.

Showing ID only affects honest people. If you're dishonest, you can obtain false documents or steal the identity of an honest person.

If a 19 year-old college student can get a fake ID to drink, why couldn't a bad person get one, too? And no matter how sophisticated the security embedded into the ID, wouldn't a well-financed terrorist be able to falsify that, too? The answer to both questions is obviously 'yes'. "

From the December NARP newsletter:

Has anyone refused to present an ID, and if so, what was the outcome?