The shoe has not yet dropped, but according to Don Phillips, a columnist for Trains Magazine, in the April 2007 issue, the government is holding the shoe precariously above at least one industry (and who knows how many others) and it may fall at any moment. Government, in the form of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a part of the Homeland Security Department, seems anxious to involve itself in the protection of all freight and passengers. The current shoe is more like a hobnail boot. Other dropping shoes include airlines or container ships and their ports, but the TSA hasn't gotten much beyond making airline passengers remove their shoes yet, and worrying the airlines over their unexamined cargo.

So, what's wrong with a little security? Well, perhaps nothing, if you never receive anything that may have been shipped by rail (such as your new automobile), stuff shipped by UPS, your latest head of lettuce, or if you never ride a train. I suspect many Claims readers, at least those outside of the Northeast, Chicago, or a few other isolated locations, may never have ridden a train, with the possible exception of the choo-choo at Disney World. Oh! That may be included.

Writes Phillips, the TSA "has proposed new rules for railroad security. To the great relief of Amtrak and other passenger operators, TSA did not [yet] propose searches of passengers as they board. But," continues Phillips, "freight railroads are not all that happy with some of the hazardous freight requirements and are certain to lobby for changes in the final rule. In a move that is almost certain to produce laughs, the proposal would also extend to private railcars, as well as tourist, scenic, historic, and excursion operations, plus," says Phillips, "cable cars, trolleys, and inclined planes."