Web sites with photos and detailed information on Metro’s infrastructure — including electricity substations, emergency exits and air-intakes — have appeared on the Internet recently, raising security concerns from transit officials.

Although many of the local sites are created and maintained by what industry officials refer to as “foamers,” a term used to describe transit enthusiasts, others across the country are being started by current or former employees who may have access to sensitive information. Some rail fans have set up private Web cams to monitor the flow of trains and track their schedules.

One of several local sites is www.pipeshaft.com, which has photos, descriptions and walking directions to hundreds of sidewalk grates, electrical boxes, ventilation shafts and other Metro sites and equipment across the region. The site’s creator, listed as Omari Norman, of Silver Spring, states in a brief biography that he hopes “to share this peculiar obsession with anyone who may be interested.”

Norman did not return several e-mails seeking comment for this story. Metro officials said they were aware of the site but did want to comment. Officials said they do regularly patrol the Web for sensitive information.

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The New York City subway system has been battling this trend for years, especially after the Sept. 11 attacks, with dozens of sites devoted to the nation’s largest subway system, said Paul Fleuranges, spokesman for Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“It’s a problem,” Fleuranges said. “They post stuff on their Web sites that we won’t even talk to reporters about.”

While most foamers tend to be “strange but harmless,” Fleuranges said, extremely sensitive information has appeared regularly on Web sites.

“We’ve tried to [go] after them but there are some First Amendment rights at issue here,” he said. “A lot of the information is being gleaned from public documents, so we have not been very successful in stopping them.”

Metro officials said dozens of foamers regularly attend public events in hopes of getting a behind-the-scenes look at the system. A recent walking/riding tour lead by Metro’s Interim General Manager Dan Tangherlini drew more than 300 people. Officials said they expected a few dozen.

Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the government has little chance of shutting down such Web sites unless they can “prove that someone’s life is in immediate danger” because of the information, or it creates a “clear and present danger to national security.” Otherwise, the sites are protected under the First Amendment.

“It is an enormous threshold that no one, no one has ever been able to meet,” Dalglish said.

Fleuranges said if these hobbyists “truly love transit as they portend,” they would be more careful about what they publish.

mrupert@dcexaminer.com