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6/14/2011
Yesterday, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) joined mass transit workers at a transit center in Trenton, N.J., to oppose proposed drastic cuts to federal rail security funding.


Under the House’s version of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, which passed the House earlier this month, security programs for freight and intercity passenger rail, and mass transit would drop 65 percent below the Obama administration’s 2012 budget request. Even under current law, transit security is significantly underfunded, Lautenberg and Holt said in a joint statement.
According to American Public Transportation Association data, surface transit provides 18 times as many passenger trips as aviation, but aviation receives 12 times as much federal security funding, they said. Security underfunding has persisted despite “real and ongoing” threats to surface transportation modes, the congressmen said. Since 2004, terrorist cells have conducted fatal bombings on major passenger-rail systems in Spain, the United Kingdom, India and Belarus.
“Even from a purely budgetary perspective, cutting rail security is penny-wise and pound-foolish,” said Holt. “A successful attack against a Northeast Corridor rail station could cost taxpayers billions in economic damage, lost revenue and lost jobs – above and beyond the tragic loss of life.”