Car Got Stuck On Union Station Platform: Report

WASHINGTON, DC — Someone was able to drive a car across the platform at Union Station in D.C. earlier this year, and it was reportedly because of Amtrak security failures.

A report from the Amtrak Office of Inspector General identified "weaknesses in the perimeter and interior security in the station and yard, including poor lighting, nonworking video surveillance cameras and an inefficient incident reporting process," as first reported by WTOP.

The incident happened back on March 15 when a car drove through an entrance where a roll gate had been broken since 2015, and the car became stuck on a track used by MARC Camden Line trains. Security guards were also lax in their responsibilities, the report found.

"We recommended the company develop and initiate plan to address the security weakness identified in the report," the report summary states. "The plan should establish clear roles and lines of accountability, resources, timeframes, and performance metrics to assess progress."

The incident happened while Amtrak was in the midst of a review of security at Union Station.

"During our review, the security at this entrance was weak because of the lack of physical barriers and inconsistent security guard screening, which increased the risk of unauthorized entry," the report states. "The company had ongoing plans during our review to address the lack of physical barriers; however, on March 15, 2019, a trespasser used the open entrance to access the station and drove an unauthorized vehicle onto the tracks. In a review of video surveillance coverage of the incident, we observed that the physical barriers were not in place at the entrance, and the guard did not effectively screen the driver of the vehicle, permitting unauthorized access to the station. This placed passengers and employees at risk."

Portions of the report were redacted to withhold sensitive security information.