Federal authorities say a Long Island man offered to help al-Qaida bomb New York City?s transit systems including the Long Island Rail Road, but MTA rail officials maintain he was never an employee.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says Bryant Neal Vinas, of Patchogue, never had any inside information that could have helped in the planning of a bomb attack on the transit system. Nevertheless, officials issued an alert last Thanksgiving stemming from information Vinas provided to the FBI, according to officials.

Police have stepped up security at Penn Station using video surveillance, uniformed police and more recently, bomb- and radiation-sniffing equipment.

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