PTP Digest 2004/05/26-A = CONTENTS

* 'Terrorism' Hysteria Sweeps Transit Industry
Public Transport Progress 2004/05/26

* NJ: Rail photography becomes a 'suspicious activity'
Newark Star Ledger Saturday, May 22, 2004

* US East Coast rail travel seized by 'security' frenzy
THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published May 22, 2004

* Philadelphia: Motion detector 'terrorism' scare fizzles
Associated Press Tue, 25 May 2004

* NJ: Criminalization of photography raises concerns
Trenton Times Thursday, May 20, 2004



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Public Transport Progress
2004/05/26

"Terrorism" Hysteria Sweeps Transit Industry

Alarm is rising among many public transit and rail transport professionals,
advocates, and enthusiasts in response to the draconian "security"
measures now being enacted by the US federal government and several
major North American public transportation systems, ostensibly to
safeguard against possible terrorist acts. These measures include:

* Prohibitions against construction of new US rail transit access to some
airport terminals and major central-city office buildings

* New US federal security requirements for transit agencies, imposed
without concomitant federal funding - in effect, more "unfunded mandates"

* Criminalization of railway and rail transit photography, and harassment,
detention, interrogation, and intimidation of photographers, including on
public streets and in other public areas

* Arbitrarily stopping transit passengers and demanding personal
information

* Totally shutting down rail transit (and, in at least one case, all urban
transportation) access to activity centers to "protect" high-profile events
(e.g., political conventions)

Some of these measures invoke serious concerns, ranging from the
implications for civil liberties and free speech, to the impact on public
transport ridership and the future planning of rail facilities.

For transportation professionals, the criminalization of freely performed,
rail-related photography represents a serious threat to essential
photographic documentation of current systems, technology, and
operations. It also impedes the traditional ongoing historic documentation
of rail transit operations, performed by both public transport professionals
and rail enthusiasts - a threat to the consistent, ongoing development of
an historical legacy. Furthermore, there appears to be no compelling
evidence that prohibiting or rationing the performance of open
photography has ever provided any meaningful deterrent to a terrorist act
(or, conversely, that such photography ever played a significant or
indispensable role in any such act). Obviously, clandestine photographic
technology and other surveillance techniques are readily available to
potential terrorists.

By suppressing the activities of rail enthusiasts and professionals, the
criminalization of photography may actually be counter-productive. This
was summed up well by the posting of one contributor to a online
European tramways discussion list, who commented that

>>This kind of action is totally pointless and unproductive as, apart from
anything else, it will alienate the very section of the population that is best
placed to help safeguard against terrorism. It will do nothing at all to stop
any potential terrorist taking photos as such people will completely ignore
any anti-photography law and use a small hidden camera which is now
very easy to do.<<

The "unfunded mandates" imposed by new US federal security rules
place additional financial demands on already stressed public transport
budgets, and almost surely will result in some degradation of transport
service and quality. Measures which restrict or impair access to rail transit
and its operations, including intense passenger-screening and
interrogation activities, could pose a serious setback to mobility and a
degradation of ridership. The effects of policy decisions impacting the
location and construction of rail alignments and facilities could potentially
endure for many years to come.

These damaging and controversial impacts need to be weighed against
any proven, verifiable effectiveness of such measures. While all public
transport is certainly vulnerable to terrorist attack, it is highly debatable
whether these recently imposed draconian restrictions on photography,
passenger access, and the location of rail transit alignments will have any
significant effects other than to harm the innocent and degrade the
general quality of life in North America. As 'Mass Transit' Contributing
Editor Van Wilkins observes in a commentary on this topic in the current
(May) issue of the magazine, "In times like these, common sense can
become a scarce commodity."

As usual, Public Transport Progress will continue to disseminate news
and other informational items related to this important and troubling issue.
Because of the extraordinary volume of news suddenly emerging on this
issue, PTP will disseminate it in several separate mailings.

PTP




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------------------------------------------------------------
PTP NOTE: IN the sudden explosion of hysteria, rail photography
(commonplace on railways and rail transit since the 19th century) has
suddenly become a "suspicious activity", linked to possible terrorism.
------------------------------------------------------------

Newark Star Ledger
Saturday, May 22, 2004

Reports of N.J. rail lines being videotaped are probed

Homeland security receives a spate of 'suspicious activities' tips

BY JOHN P. MARTIN
Star-Ledger Staff

New Jersey homeland security officials said yesterday they are
investigating reports of people seen filming or videotaping rail lines and
stations between New York and Philadelphia in recent weeks.

"Over the past month, there have been several instances of what we
would term 'suspicious conduct' that triggered our interest and our
investigative resources," Attorney General Peter Harvey said in an
interview.

Such tips from the public aren't unheard of, but Harvey said it was
unusual to receive so many tips -- about a half dozen -- in a such short
span.

Roger Shatzkin, a spokesman for the New Jersey Office of Counter-
Terrorism, declined yesterday to discuss the details of the reports. But the
office sent an advisory to local police agencies urging them to keep an
eye out for such activity, he said.

"The Office of Counter-Terrorism is looking into, as it always does,
suspicious incident reports that have to do with surveillance of or near
railroad facilities," said Shatzkin. "There's no specific threat."

Federal authorities said state officials had alerted them to the suspicious
activity along the tracks, but they declined to elaborate. They noted that
such reports occur routinely, and sometimes surge after high-profile
incidents or warnings.

"People are reporting anything that looks vaguely suspicious and we're
following up on it," said FBI spokesman Steve Kodak.

The nation has been on elevated alert level -- code yellow -- since the
beginning of the year. In the past, the Department of Homeland Security
has raised the alert level before key national holidays, peak travel times
and notable events. Some officials expect the terror level to increase
again in the coming months, as the presidential election heats up and the
parties hold their national conventions.

The March 11 terror bombing at Madrid train stations has also prompted
counter-terrorism officials to intensify their scrutiny of rail security. NJ
Transit recently raised the ire of railroad buffs and civil libertarians by
requiring permits to take photographs of agency property, including trains.

On Thursday night, Amtrak stopped and searched three trains, including a
pair of Acela Express high-speed trains traveling from New York to
Washington, D.C.

Amtrak spokesman Dan Stessel said the trains were searched "as a
precaution" based on an anonymous threat called into Baltimore police.
Nothing was found.

And earlier this month, commuter rail officials in Philadelphia found a
motion-detector device in a rail yard and turned it over to the FBI.
Although the device is sold in stores, its presence in a rail yard made FBI
agents suspicious, FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams said. She said the
device was being tested for fingerprints.

"We know that it's a commercial motion detector," Williams said Friday.
"We're attempting to find out what the device is, why it was there and who
put it there."

NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett said that agency has
increased its uniformed police force by more than 60 percent since the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Four police canine units also have been
added.


Staff writer Jonathan Schuppe and the Associated Press contributed to
this report.



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------------------------------------------------------
PTP NOTE: In the article below, the following incident merits particular
attention:

>>The FBI in Philadelphia is investigating the discovery of an infrared
sensor last week that was concealed along the track bed of a
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority rail line. It was
painted black and embedded in ballast.
The FBI described the sensor as "a commercial motion detector."
"We're trying to determine why it was there and whether there is any
forensic evidence that can be picked off of it," FBI spokesman Paul
Bresson said.<<

This discovery of a mysterious clandestine motion detector (actually,
discovered in a SEPTA maintenance/storage rail yard) apparently was key
to provoking the frenzied public transport security crackdown throughout
the US East Coast over the past several days. For the explanation of this
mystery, and the final outcome, please refer to the news item immediately
following this one.

The seeming hysteria which was unleashed tended to brand rail
photographers as "suspicious", linking them to possible terrorism:

>>Federal and state agencies are looking into a number of suspicious
incidents recently on rail lines along the Northeast Corridor and
elsewhere. ...
In another incident, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office sent
advisories to law-enforcement personnel telling them of at least seven
instances in the last week of unknown people conducting surveillance
along rail lines leading into Philadelphia, Trenton and New York.
"People were reported to be videotaping or photographing areas with
access to rail lines," said Roger Shatzkin, spokesman for the New Jersey
Attorney General's Office. "These kinds of reports are not new. We get
them all the time. The only thing that seemed to be new was that we got a
cluster of them."<<

Alarm over such activities seems especially and egregiously
inappropriate, since filming railways for hobby or professional purposes is
a tradition dating back to the 19th century.
------------------------------------------------------

THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published May 22, 2004

Security for train travelers stiffened

By Tom Ramstack


New federal security standards for passenger-rail service take effect
tomorrow only days after a bomb threat stopped two of Amtrak's Acela
Express trains heading to Washington.
The new standards are part of the Department of Homeland Security's
effort to prevent the kind of train bombings that killed 191 persons March
11 in Madrid.
Beginning tomorrow, rail operators will be required to designate security
coordinators and remove trash receptacles, unless they are bomb-
resistant or clear plastic containers, said Homeland Security
Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson.
Rail agencies also are supposed to use bomb-sniffing dogs to screen
baggage, terminals and trains and ask passengers and employees to
report unattended property or suspicious behavior.
The FBI put out a bulletin this week to law-enforcement agencies to
watch for suicide bombers. Telltale signs include people wearing heavy
coats that could conceal bombs or who bear a chemical smell, the FBI
bulletin said. It also warned against bombers disguising themselves as
pregnant women or by wearing public service uniforms.
The Homeland Security standards, which were developed in
cooperation with transit authorities, apply to Amtrak, commuter rail and
subways.
Police stopped two of Amtrak's Acela Express trains headed to
Washington late Thursday after an anonymous caller telephoned
Baltimore police with a bomb threat.
One train was stopped near Baltimore-Washington International Airport
and a second near Philadelphia. Both were searched with bomb-sniffing
dogs for about 40 minutes.
"Nothing was found and everything was let go," Amtrak spokeswoman
Marcie Golgoski said.
Federal and state agencies are looking into a number of suspicious
incidents recently on rail lines along the Northeast Corridor and
elsewhere.
The FBI in Philadelphia is investigating the discovery of an infrared
sensor last week that was concealed along the track bed of a
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority rail line. It was
painted black and embedded in ballast.
The FBI described the sensor as "a commercial motion detector."
"We're trying to determine why it was there and whether there is any
forensic evidence that can be picked off of it," FBI spokesman Paul
Bresson said.
In another incident, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office sent
advisories to law-enforcement personnel telling them of at least seven
instances in the last week of unknown people conducting surveillance
along rail lines leading into Philadelphia, Trenton and New York.
"People were reported to be videotaping or photographing areas with
access to rail lines," said Roger Shatzkin, spokesman for the New Jersey
Attorney General's Office. "These kinds of reports are not new. We get
them all the time. The only thing that seemed to be new was that we got a
cluster of them."
On May 18, a military rocket launcher was discovered by transit workers
near an Atlanta rail station.
Although the investigation continues, the FBI said it appeared to be a
training model that could not bring down an airplane or destroy a train.
The shoulder-fired M-136 AT4 launcher can be bought in many gun
stores.
Rail safety has become a higher priority for the federal government
since the Madrid bombings.
Earlier this month, the Homeland Security Department began screening
rail passengers at the New Carrollton Amtrak station with explosive-
detection equipment to test the feasibility of doing the tests nationwide.
Beginning June 1, the equipment will be used at Union Station.
The new rail standards are "the first time in the history of mass transit
that the federal government has taken the leadership role in setting a
federal security standard for passenger rail and mass transit systems," Mr.
Hutchinson said.
However, some members of Congress accuse the Bush administration
of responding too slowly.
Yesterday, Sen. Thomas R. Carper, Delaware Democrat, sent a letter
to the Homeland Security Department saying, "The attacks in Madrid
should have been a wake-up call that we need to be doing more to secure
our nation's rail lines, but the Bush administration has still not acted to
provide the kind of resources we know are necessary to make passengers
as safe as they can be."



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Associated Press
Tue, 25 May 2004

Agency: Motion detector found in rail yard was placed by worker

By DAVID B. CARUSO
Associated Press


PHILADELPHIA - A motion detector discovered in a commuter rail yard
earlier this month was placed there by a transit employee who wanted to
know when his supervisors were coming, officials said Monday.

The discovery of the small, unauthorized device on May 5 spooked law
enforcement officials, who have been on heightened alert for suspicious
activities around train tracks since the terrorist bombings of train cars in
Spain in March.

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority officials said that
after days of media reports about the discovery, an employee came
forward to tell the FBI that he had placed the detector by a footpath amid
the tracks to alert him when someone was walking to the area where he
worked.

"This guy worked overnight. What his purpose was, I don't want to
speculate," said SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney. "Presumably, he
wanted to know when his supervisors were coming."

The authority did not immediately identify the employee. It said he worked
full-time for SEPTA and part-time for a security alarm company.


The device, found by a conductor in a SEPTA yard near Philadelphia's
massive 30th Street Station, was capable of sending a signal to a nearby
receiver, and ostensibly could have triggered a signal or alarm when it
detected motion on the path, Maloney said.

No such receiver has been recovered, he said.

FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams said the case remained under
investigation Monday; agents were still trying to determine whether the
worker broke any laws. She said there was no indication that the worker
was involved in terrorism.

Maloney said no disciplinary action had been taken against the employee,
a mechanic he described as a SEPTA veteran, but the case is still under
review.

The rail yard where the detector was found is not immediately adjacent to
tracks used by passengers, but is a short walk from 30th Street Station,
which is an Amtrak hub and one of the busiest rail stations in the United
States.



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--------------------------------------------------------------
PTP NOTE: The following article includes an assertion that New Jersey
Transit has had a policy requiring "permits" for photography since 2000.
However, such a policy was never publicized or enforced until recently; a
policy which is neither publicized nor enforced would seem to be
effectively non-existent. Procedures for obtaining NJT photography
permits are even now poorly publicized and seem cumbersome. Reports
from several individuals who have applied for such permits indicate that
NJT officials require such narrow specifications for time and location as to
render them effectively useless for most transportation photographers.
--------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1085040351286192.xml

Trenton Times
Thursday, May 20, 2004

Shutterbugs beware

By TOM HESTER JR.
Staff Writer


Impromptu photography is a lifeblood for railroad enthusiasts and for
those who work in the transportation industry, but NJ Transit is trying to
put a stop to it, claiming that for security reasons it has the right to
control
whether people take photos of its property.

The mass transit agency's policy has raised civil liberty concerns among
rail enthusiasts and an expert in photography rights.

"There's no legal authority for anyone, including government, to prohibit
photography of just about anything in public view," said Bert P. Krages, an
attorney from Portland, Ore., who specializes in photographer's rights.

Although the agency hasn't publicized it, a policy was implemented at
least as far back as 2000 that requires permits for people taking photos of
agency property, according to NJ Transit spokeswoman Janet Hines.

The free permits can be obtained from the agency's real estate division,
and it usually takes a day to obtain one after an application, which can be
faxed or e-mailed, is completed, Hines said.

The agency, she said, fears people taking photographs of trains, railroad
structures and other equipment may not always be train buffs, especially
after the March 11 train bombings in Spain and the 9/11 terrorist attacks,
although the policy was put into effect before both events.

"Things have obviously changed very much in the way we secure our
system," Hines said. "This is one of those things where our goal is to
make sure our passengers are safe, our employees are safe and to
protect our infrastructure."

Hines didn't know if NJ Transit police had issued any summonses or
confiscated anyone's cameras and film for not obtaining a permit.

Railroad buffs said the policy has especially become troublesome after
the River Line light-rail system began operating this spring between
Camden and Trenton, attracting people with cameras to take photographs
of the sleek, shiny new trains.

"This is obviously cause for concern," said railroad enthusiast Douglas
John Bowen, president of the New Jersey Association of Railroad
Passengers.

Lyndon Henry works as a transportation planner and data analyst for the
Capitol Metro mass transit system in Austin, Texas, and as a consultant to
www.lightrailnow.org. He said NJ Transit's policy is a "huge concern" to
people working in the public transit profession "since much of our work
depends upon the use of photos to inform the public about rail transit
issues."

"NJ Transit seems to be taking a pretty extreme attitude," Henry said.

Bowen and Henry said forcing people to get a permit to take photographs
creates so much bureaucracy it makes it nearly impossible for people
either visiting or using NJ Transit services to take spur-of-the-moment
photographs.

"You don't have to be a civil libertarian on the fringe to be concerned
about stuff like this," Bowen said.

Henry, in an e-mail, wrote, "The ban on photography, using the pretext of
the war on terrorism, invokes serious civil liberties and free speech
concern. Furthermore, it threatens the traditional ongoing historic
documentation of rail transit operations."

Krages, who authored a pamphlet on photography rights, said NJ Transit's
policy is just the latest attempt to restrict photography, citing incidents at
industrial plants, bridges and sea vessels across the nation since the
terror attacks.

Such restrictions, he said, "aren't really rooted in real-life events."

Krages said he knew of no terrorist event or crime that has relied upon
photographs to be carried out. He likened amateur photographers to a
"neighborhood watch" that works with police to prevent crime.

"From my perspective, I don't think public photography presents any type
of risk and can actually be beneficial in improving security," Krages said.

NJ Transit should welcome photographers, Bowen said. "They're going to
be the ones to see something suspicious," he said.