Bag searches at Union Station on Wednesday
Passengers at Union Station in Los Angeles were having their bags searched by police Wednesday afternoon as part of a new security push by the rail carrier.
Sheriff's deputies and Transportation Security Administration officers were conducting the searches. Metrolink received a federal grant earlier this year to do the searches and left fliers in June for passengers, telling them that the searches would soon begin.
At the time, agency officials said the searches were not in response to any specific threats but instead were being done as an overall push to tighten security, as other rail carriers have done.
The agency has been searching passengers' bags at other stations, but Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said this was the first time searches were done at Union Station.
