President Bush will have a rail fast way to get out of town if catastrophe strikes during the Republican convention.
An escape train is waiting at Penn Station, beneath Madison Square Garden, just in case the president has to escape in an emergency, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
Secret Service agents have worked out several possible emergency routes from the Garden down to the platform where the crisis train awaits, said the sources.
Once aboard, the president – or anyone else who must make a quick escape – would be whisked out of the city to New Jersey, the sources said.
Security pros considered the idea of taking the train in the other direction, beneath the East River to Queens.
But they decided escaping to New Jersey via Amtrak’s Hudson River tunnel was the best option.
The escape train is heavily guarded by state and city cops and the Secret Service – but security has been tightened in and near Penn Station anyhow, with police and dog patrols along the tracks and tunnels leading to and from the station.
Because trains can stay powered up only so long without going anywhere, the escape train is periodically switched for another, sources said.
An Amtrak train has been ready for use since Monday. If it is put to use, it would be just one of 1,000 to move in and out of Penn Station on a typical weekday.
The escape train wouldn’t be Bush’s only route out of the Garden if something goes wrong.
Security experts have worked out several other escape routes that could include bringing the president out to the street to a waiting limo or other vehicle.
Another subterranean railway escape route has been set up at Bush’s hotel, the Waldorf-Astoria on Park Avenue. A train is to be stationed on Metro-North tracks beneath the hotel at Park Avenue and East 49th Street, a few blocks north of Grand Central Terminal.
A hotel freight elevator connects the Waldorf’s train platform to the main areas of the hotel.
The hotel’s escape setup is the same put in effect during last year’s U.N. session on Iraq, when Bush and a number of other world leaders stayed at the Waldorf. In case of a terror attack or other emergency, the train was ready to whisk them to safety.