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| Amtrak |
A program entitled Partners for Amtrak Safety and Security is being launched Tuesday, recruiting railfans who already watch (and often meticulously record) train movements. Amtrak is asking this community to watch for suspicious and/or unusual activity on trains, in or near stations, and along rail right-of-way.
Participants can register online to participate in the program to acquire embership cards and to learn more about what safety and security concerns they should look out for and how to report them.
Said Amtrak Police Chief John O’Connor of railfans, “They know sometimes better than our employees … They know engine numbers and car numbers and timetables. They know better than the fisherman knows the tides."
The program is credited as the outgrowth of a forum Amtrak executives attended last year, organized by Trains magazine. The forum was organized to help foster dialogue and reduce friction between railfans and Amtrak.
BNSF’s Citizens for Rail Security program was launched in 2006. BNSF officials have expressed satisfaction with the program publicly, including at Railway Age’sannual Passenger Trains on Freight Railroads conference and the magazine’s security conferences. BNSF officials repeatedly affirm that stance in private conversations, claiming the program has been successful despite concerns that railfans might overstep their authority or otherwise diminish the program’s effectiveness.
Other Class I railroads privately have questioned the worth of the program. But according to BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg, "We saw the railfans as potential allies.”
