A Port Authority (PA) union chief told Albany lawmakers the rail - which carries more than 5 million riders a year to and from Kennedy Airport - is rarely patrolled and virtually unguarded.

"It's unmanned and unpoliced," Robert Morris, vice president of the PA's Police Benevolent Association, said at a state Senate hearing on homeland security. "It's just a bad situation."

Morris said the PA isn't following a security plan outlined for the AirTrain when it opened in 2003. The plan called for cops to patrol the train, which runs on an 8-mile loop, making stops at the airport's terminals, Jamaica Station and Howard Beach station.

He said three tours 24 hours, 365 days a year on the AirTrain would be 1,095 patrol tours annually - a far cry from reality.

"The last 12 months we've had 40 tours, which is about two weeks of coverage with one officer," he said.

The PA insisted yesterday its rails and crossings were safe.

"The way the Port Authority Police Department is deployed, as well as security cameras and the entirety of our security apparatus, means the riding public should feel safe within all of the Port Authority facilities," the agency said in a statement.

It added that the AirTrain security plan was an unofficial analysis by a single officer.

Louis Anemone, a retired NYPD Chief of Department and former MTA head of security, told The News Morris' concerns are well-founded.

"You don't have to be a security expert to recognize the inherent risks and dangers of a system like that," he said. "It's asking for trouble."

Source: NY Daily News

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