TSA gives 'Gold Standard' to 13 transit agencies, passenger railroads

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has commended 13 transit and passenger-rail agencies for achieving the TSA's highest rating for transit security.

The TSA awards its "Gold Standard" to transit agencies and passenger railroads that achieve the highest rating on the administration's 2015 Baseline Assessments for Security Enhancement (BASE) and for building a strong security program, TSA officials said in a press release.

Agencies with rail operations that achieved the Gold Standard in 2015 include Amtrak, Miami-Dade Transit, MTA Metro-North Railroad, MTA New York City Transit, Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp., Regional Transportation District of Denver, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, North County Transit District of North San Diego County, Port Authority Transit Corp. and Metro Transit.

The BASE program is designed to establish a security standard for individual system security programs and assess their progress. The voluntary assessments focus on categories such as the agencies' security plans, training, drills/exercises, public outreach and background checks.

Agencies that achieved the Gold Standard were reviewed in 2015 and attained high scores across all categories, TSA officials said.