Amtrak initiated new security measures Tuesday, rolling out expanded security teams and passenger baggage screening.

Amtrak introduced new security measures Tuesday, announcing it would begin to randomly inspect passenger baggage and to deploy mobile security teams to screen passengers and their belongings.

The passenger rail company emphasized that the measures were undertaken with the cooperation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and were not the result of a specific threat against US rail systems.

"The screening and mobile units were developed as part of Amtrak's working hand-in-hand with domestic and international counter-terrorism agencies and experts to continually fortify Amtrak's safety and security practices," William Rooney, Amtrak vice president of Security Strategy and Special Operations, said in a statement. "Random inspections and armed special agent patrols are a prudent and necessary security enhancement and are similar to programs in New York, Boston, Madrid and London."

Amtrak Mobile Security Teams will consist of a mix of armed transit police, explosive-sniffing K-9 units, and specialized counter-terrorism agents, according to Amtrak. The teams may screen passengers or inspect baggage.

The passenger rail carrier will first implement the new measures in its heavily traveled northeast corridor from Washington, DC, to Boston, Mass. Amtrak will bar passengers who refuse inspection from boarding its trains.

Initial congressional reaction was positive.

"Amtrak should be applauded for taking steps to secure passenger rail from known vulnerabilities, but this initiative is only one organization's contribution to a larger security framework that DHS has yet to engineer. 'Random' baggage screening can be effective so long as it is truly random and not a merely a mechanism for profiling certain travelers," Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) declared.

I-STEP

Meanwhile, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) released a solicitation in support of its Intermodal Security Exercise Training Program (I-STEP) last Thursday. The solicitation seeks sources to assist the agency with planning and conducting exercises and evaluating and correcting contingency plans for intermodal transportation security.

"The desired outcome of the I-STEP is for the transportation security industry to increase their level of preparedness to prevent, respond to and recover from a terrorist or transportation security incident," the solicitation stated.

I-STEP extends scrutiny of transportation security measures to include freight rail, mass transit and highways in addition to established programs for aviation and ports.

"I-STEP provides security-exercise tools and services to modal operators through TSA general managers. The tools include software for exercise design, evaluation and tracking for a mix of tabletop, advanced tabletop and functional exercises," according to TSA.

The I-STEP solicitation informs potential sources that they must have the capability to enhance existing data management systems for exercise support, including the Exercise Information System (EXIS) and the Exercise Evaluation System (EES).

TSA and any contractors would continue to work with state and local agencies to examine their plans and initiatives and to count on them for alerts on transportation security incidents within their systems.

The I-STEP solicitation closes on Feb. 29. Interested vendors should conact Brandon Prindle, TSA contract specialist, via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .