STOPPED-TRAIN INSPECTIONS PUT ON HOLD

Even before it began, the U.S. Customs Service has suspended a pilot
project to stop Amtrak trains a minimum of 15 minutes at the Blaine border
crossing so agents could make safer and more thorough inspections of trains
from Vancouver, B.C., to Seattle.

Since 1995, Customs agents have conducted their inspections while the
trains were moving, and members of the state's congressional delegation
were upset at the proposal to end these so-called "rolling inspections."

Lawmakers said the change would cause delays for travelers and cost the
state as much as $150,000 a year.

Customs had planned to begin a 30-day test to stop the trains at the border
so agents could conduct more thorough drug, contraband and immigration
inspections. Agency officials say the Seattle to Vancouver Amtrak service
is the only northern U.S. border crossing where trains aren't routinely
stopped at the border.

But U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and several other members of the delegation
recently wrote to U.S. Customs Service Commissioner Raymond Kelly seeking a
halt to the test and a meeting to discuss it. That meeting, which will
involve representatives of Customs, the congressional delegation, and
officials from Amtrak and the state Department of Transportation, is
expected to take place Friday.

A spokesman in Murray's office said yesterday the senator was pleased the
project was put on hold and welcomes Friday's meeting.

The project, which was scheduled to start Jan. 8, did not begin, Customs says.

Along with the safety questions involved in conducting inspections on a
moving train, Customs officials say there are several reasons why they want
to test whether stopping the trains would be a good idea. They cite the
need for better inspections because of the influx of drugs from Canada,
including "B.C. bud," a potent marijuana; the possibility that suspected
terrorists could slip into the country; and better use of agents' time.

Under the current system, agents board Amtrak trains at the border and ride
them a substantial distance doing inspections. Then they get off the
trains, get in cars and drive an hour or more back to the border.

Nonetheless, Customs, Amtrak, and Washington state officials had worked out
an agreement in 1995 to not routinely stop the trains as they entered the
U.S., in part as an accommodation to tourists and others on board. The
rolling inspections have been in place ever since.

Nearly 100,000 people rode the Seattle-Vancouver train last year, and the
lawmakers say those travelers likely would have driven had the train not
been available, increasing the already congested situation at the Blaine
border crossing.