Security at US train stations is remarkably light compared to the nation’s airports: no metal detectors, no searches of carry-on luggage — no security checkpoints at all, in fact.

And that’s not likely to change, according to the new administrator of the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

“We don’t intend to roll out anything like what we have in the airports,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske at a press briefing at New York’s Grand Central Terminal and reported by CNBC. “We are satisfied at this point.”

Currently, train passengers are subject to random (but rare) searches, and police and bomb-sniffing dogs do patrol railroad terminals. Routine searches of individual travellers are not currently being contemplated, however, Pekoske said.

Pekoske’s statement follows a recent announcement that TSA would seek to increase security measures at such “non-secure” areas of airports as baggage claim and queues at TSA checkpoints.

The TSA administrator also stressed the importance of the TSA PreCheck program, through which more than 5 million travellers have submitted to background checks in order to speed their way through security checkpoints at airports.

Pekoske assumed leadership of TSA in August 2017.

tsa.gov