ELGIN — Area Metra riders soon will have to make room for a new kind of passenger along their daily commutes.

Metra announced Tuesday plans to allow security teams from the federal Transportation Security Administration to regularly patrol trains coming in and out of Chicago.

Metra spokeswoman Meg Reile said the measure was not in response to any specific threat to the trains, but rather part of an overall effort to enhance safety.

Known as Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response, or VIPR, teams are composed of federal air marshals, surface transportation security inspectors, transportation security officers, explosives detection canine teams and behavior detection officers, who look out for passengers displaying suspicious activity. VIPR was formed in response to the 2004 commuter train bombings in Madrid, which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800.