NYC trains test laser system

Published 29 September 2006

Train and subway tunnels are long, dark, and empty — all conditions which make it easier for a terrorist to plant a bomb or otherwise do damage to passenger trains; one way to guard against this is to install detection systems at tunnel entrances to monitor the comings and goings there; the New York City subway is already testing a laser0base system, and this week said it would install a second one

The New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) last week said it was planning to test a laser system to detect trespassers in subway tunnels. Officials said a laser intrusion-detection device would be tested in an unidentified tunnel to help determine whether to install them system-wide.

One such device, from Hackensack, New Jersey-based Safeguard Technology, has already been installed at one end of the tunnel, and the MTA board is expected next week to give Molinari & Associates a $27,500 contract to install it at the other end to complete the system. “Five years [after 9/11], they should already have installed a proven system that is efficient and cost effective,” said Nick Casale, former director of MTA security.

-read more at Safeguard Technology Web site