Plane vs Train Security (1 Viewer)

[Optimus Prime]

We took Amtrak up to New York earlier this month and I was struck by the difference in the level of security versus flying

On a plane, you have to show your ID at the counter and your name must match what's on the ticket. Typing too fast online and misspelled your own name? You've got a problem

Your carry on bag goes through an x-ray machine (I'm sure checked luggage has some kind of protocol as well)

You go through a metal detector, maybe get patted down

On a train, I can buy a ticket and pass it along to any bozo I want to, as long as the ticket scans it's all good

Nobody touches my bags

Anyone know why the vast differences between the two travel methods?

What's to stop someone from loading up a bag full of explosives then detonating it?

 

[buzd]

We took Amtrak up to New York earlier this month and I was struck by the difference in the level of security versus flying

On a plane, you have to show your ID at the counter and your name must match what's on the ticket. Typing to fast online and misspelled your own name? You've got a problem

Your carry on bag goes through an x-ray machine (I'm sure checked luggage has some kind of protocol as well)

You go through a metal detector, maybe get patted down

On a train, I can buy a ticket and pass it along to any bozo I want to, as long as the ticket scans it's all good

Nobody touches my bags

Anyone know why the vast differences between the two travel methods?

What's to stop someone from loading up a bag full of explosives then detonating it?

Probably not a good thing to post on a public message board. But yeah, I don't know the answer to that.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

We took Amtrak up to New York earlier this month and I was struck by the difference in the level of security versus flying

On a plane, you have to show your ID at the counter and your name must match what's on the ticket. Typing too fast online and misspelled your own name? You've got a problem

Your carry on bag goes through an x-ray machine (I'm sure checked luggage has some kind of protocol as well)

You go through a metal detector, maybe get patted down

On a train, I can buy a ticket and pass it along to any bozo I want to, as long as the ticket scans it's all good

Nobody touches my bags

Anyone know why the vast differences between the two travel methods?

What's to stop someone from loading up a bag full of explosives then detonating it?

After the Oklahoma City bombing there wasn’t a national response to make it harder to rent white vans

Drug deaths and gun death are both at near pandemic levels but cough syrup is policed more than guns

We have deep cultural mythology for both cars and guns
There is great fear of both planes and drugs bc they are seen as the loss of control
We pretend like we have control over cars (and guns) - there’s even more ‘control’ over trains since they are on tracks, the damage they can do is limited to things that cross or are in close proximity to the tracks
We culturally have much less anxiety about that

 

[Sailorsaint]

Probably not a good thing to post on a public message board. But yeah, I don't know the answer to that.

I’m betting bad guys with ill intent already know this. What we need is a foolproof invention that will detect explosives and chemicals/poison gas. I hope someone like DARPA is working on this.

 

[CoolBrees]

Blowing up an Amtrak is the only thing that will cause them to add the precautions.

Private business isn't going to protect you unless it is either economically prudent to do so, or they are mandated by the government.

 

[SystemShock]

You can't use a train as a weapon, other than targeting a train station, but one has access to the train station before the train, so...
Trains usually don't travel close enough to densely populated areas.
You know where they are at all times, and can redirect them at will.
A plane blows up in mid air, everyone dies; a train, maybe you kill a car full, maybe a few more if the train derails.
The psyche/economic impact: the number of people who travel on airplanes is much higher than the people who travel by rail.

That's what comes to mind...

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Private business isn't going to protect you unless it is either economically prudent to do so, or they are mandated by the government.

and even then they’ll do cost benefit analysis vs lawsuit payouts

 

[CoolBrees]

and even then they’ll do cost benefit analysis vs lawsuit payouts

My friend, I can tell you from experience; the analyses are already done.

When someone calculates a large civil (read dirt) project and it involves transporting material they are responsible for, there is a calculation on how many people you will kill by driving trucks on streets, freeways etc.

Statistically, you will kill someone at some point, and will be responsible for that payout. So that payout is included in the estimate to complete the project.

They don't list it in the bid as "killed people" mind you. It is under their "Builder's Risk" section from which they will take out insurance.

 

[Zack Lee]

I get what you are saying and you are right that trains could make an easy target. But why bother smuggling something onto the train when there are thousands of miles of track that you can’t guard them all. A high speed derail is what I’ve always worried would be next. It wouldn’t even take much explosive. I Want to take one once more before this Starts.

 

[GeauxWhoDats]

Boy oh boy, you guys sure make a guy want to travel......

 

[baarbogast]

We took Amtrak up to New York earlier this month and I was struck by the difference in the level of security versus flying

On a plane, you have to show your ID at the counter and your name must match what's on the ticket. Typing too fast online and misspelled your own name? You've got a problem

Your carry on bag goes through an x-ray machine (I'm sure checked luggage has some kind of protocol as well)

You go through a metal detector, maybe get patted down

On a train, I can buy a ticket and pass it along to any bozo I want to, as long as the ticket scans it's all good

Nobody touches my bags

Anyone know why the vast differences between the two travel methods?

What's to stop someone from loading up a bag full of explosives then detonating it?

The best answer I have is, There are to many small town depots and the cost of security would make train travel much more expensive. I'm in Europe and take trains everywhere, the closest thing to "security" is the lost and found officer.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

The best answer I have is, There are to many small town depots and the cost of security would make train travel much more expensive. I'm in Europe and take trains everywhere, the closest thing to "security" is the lost and found officer.

Only time I’ve ever been robbed was on a train from Hungary back to Germany
Passport dudes came through in middle of night, since they woke me up I went to bathroom then back to my compartment
Get off the train in Frankfurt, order a coffee and International Herald Tribune go to pay for it and guess what??

 

[SWJJ]

Airline security isn't really there to make it more secure, only to give you the illusion of security so they can say they have done something.

 

[Zack Lee]

Airline security isn't really there to make it more secure, only to give you the illusion of security so they can say they have done something.

you Normally make sense.

 

[Eeyore]

I've read this before.