New Yorkers not surprised at rail threat

New Yorkers, ranging from LIRR commuters to a U.S. congressman, all but shrugged at the fact that among the finds in the Pakistani home where Osama bin Laden was shot dead Sunday was a plan for a terrorist attack on America's railway system.

Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he believes the potential plot was "a rambling aspiration" that lacked specifics but should, nonetheless, be "a wake-up call, a reminder" to remain vigilant.

"What's really most significant here is this is the first bit of intelligence to come out," King said. "I can see the next six months stuff leaking out. It's going to be interesting to see what material comes out from the stuff they got in that compound."

Five days after bin Laden was killed in the U.S. raid on an al-Qaida compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, commuters in New York said they were unfazed by the terrorist network's possible plot.

"The threat is always out there," said attorney Lloyd Berko, 37, of East Meadow, as he waited for a train at the Long Island Rail Road station in Mineola. "It's been in our consciousness since Sept. 11, and I don't think that's changed. If it's not bin Laden, it's going to be somebody else that's looking to do something."

New York University student Greg Brown, 19, said he is comforted by the constant presence of Metropolitan Transportation Authority police on the LIRR system.

"I do feel safe," said Brown, of Williston Park.

MTA officials said they are tightening security -- just in case. Michael Coan, chief of MTA police, said his department has ramped up enforcement efforts by 30 percent or 40 percent this week. That means more bomb-sniffing dogs, more bag inspections, more team briefings, more officers carrying "heavy weapons," and more "step-on" train inspections at stations, including at Jamaica on Friday.

With Alfonso A. Castillo