Chicago Summit Could Mean Airport-Style Security On Metra Electric, South Shore Trains, are we talking TSA 'VIPR' teams?

Chicago Summit Could Mean Airport-Style Security On Metra Electric, South Shore Trains, are we talking TSA 'VIPR' teams?(CBS).Some stations on the Metra Electric Line and South Shore Line could be shut down during the upcoming NATO summit, and passengers at other stations could face airport-style security screenings, due to the Secret Service security plan that could be released as soon as Friday afternoon.The commuter rail agencies are still in talks with the Secret Service over major security measures for passengers, including airport-style screening of all riders during the summit. That would mean commuters on those lines would face patdowns, X-ray screenings, and long security lines at their stations before boarding trains. 
The Secret Service initially wanted all trains to stop short of McCormick Place, with shuttle buses taking passengers around the summit site. Then they talked about canine units conducting searches on trains, which would be halted before reaching McCormick Place. Now, the Secret Service is planning for airport-style security screening at a limited number of stations on those two train lines. Many other stations on the Electric and South Shore lines – serving the South Side, southern suburbs and northwest Indiana – would be shut down during the summit. Neither Metra nor the Secret Service will talk about the security measures yet. But sources said, with just over two weeks until the summit, nothing has been decided.
TSA officials like to point out that the acronym stands for Transportation Security Administration, not the Airport Security Administration. And that's where VIPR comes in. Born after 2004's Madrid railway bombings, VIPR suffered some embarrassing coordination struggles, transit officials say. The program has 15 teams and is expanding to get access to 12 new teams to spot-check thousands of transportation depots across the nation. VIPR teams conducted 3,895 operations in "surface modes" nationwide in 2010, according to the Department of Homeland Security (PDF). The expansion comes after intelligence from Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound revealed al Qaeda plans to target U.S. rail systems on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. At a time when TSA airport searches are unpopular among many air travelers, civil liberties groups say VIPR's joint participation with local police in "warrantless" searches have been "flying under the radar" in violation of constitutional protections. Transit police say it helps them better guard against attacks like those that have hit Madrid, London and Moscow since 2004.Read the full story here, more here.