Trains Vulnerable To Attack

Subway systems are inviting targets for terrorists because they are difficult to secure.

With 29 million people a day who use mass transit, CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr reports that U.S. officials said there's no sure-fire way to defend busses and trains from terror attacks.

Orr reports Homeland Security officials said they know of no credible threat against U.S. trains or buses, but by raising the terror threat level for mass transit, they are trying to be extra careful.

The kind of screening equipment used to check passengers at airports can't be used because it's too slow for systems designed to quickly move large numbers of people. There also aren't enough police officers to patrol thousands of rail stations.

"I actually think we have a very safe system," said Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. "We feel that at least in the short term we should raise the level because obviously we're concerned with the possibility of a copy cat attack."

"Mass transportation systems will always be vulnerable to some extent if we want to keep them as efficient as they are today," said Rafi Ron, president of the Washington-based transportation security consulting firm, New Age Security Solutions.

"The government can't be everywhere at all times," Homeland Security Analyst David Heyman told CBS News. "What we rely on is a vigilant public... an alert public."

The New York City area accounts for about a third of the total number of people who take commuter trains, subways and buses daily in the United States, said Alan Pisarski, a Washington-based national transportation policy analyst. The next-largest systems are Chicago, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia. San Francisco has the largest system on the West Coast.

James Carafano, a homeland security expert with the Heritage Foundation think tank, said trains are a tempting target for terrorists because they're so predictable.

"It's very, very easy to do reconnaissance," Carafano said.

Some of the deadliest terrorist attacks since Sept. 11, 2001, have been carried out on subway systems, including Thursday's attack in London that killed at least 40 people.

In Madrid, a railway bombing on March 11, 2004, killed 191 people and injured thousands. A month earlier, an explosion ripped through a subway car in the Moscow subway during rush hour, killing 41 people.

The Transportation Security Administration was created by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks to oversee security of all transportation modes.

For now, Orr reports that police in Los Angeles added rolling patrols at Union Station, New York authorities are inspecting busses at bridges and tunnels, and cops in Washington are working mandatory overtime until further notice.

Orr adds that money is an issue in the overall picture. While Homeland Security has spent billions to better secure airports and planes, they have spent only a fraction of that for buses and trains.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, is among those in Congress who say the TSA has focused too heavily on airport security and has not done enough to protect trains and other forms of transportation.

The TSA missed a Dec. 31 deadline to submit to Congress a comprehensive security plan that covers all transportation modes.