Defense of Trains and Rail System Infrastructure in Arizona.

Laura Gladney Tim Lant Erin Mote Rick Rager

Arizona Overview

2100 miles of track. Major rail yard in Tucson. Branch lines through Phoenix. The Union Pacific Sunset Route

Arizona’s busiest rail line. Connects Los Angeles, Tucson and El Paso. High volume of industrial cargo. Passenger Routes share lines with cargo trains.

Mining Industry dependent on rail transportation. Bottlenecks at Yuma and near Tucson.

Rail Infrastructure

Rail Lines in Arizona

Rail Infrastructure

Union Pacific Rail Lines in Arizona

Sunset Route

Rail Infrastructure

Regulation: Federal

Federal Railroad Association• Set standards for car maintenance & labor standards.

DOE/NRC/EPA• Set standards and test nuclear waste packaging.

Department of Homeland Security• Oversight of defense & response through FEMA.• Oversight of U.S. Customs

U.S. Customs• C-TPAT (Customs Trade Partnership against Terrorism)

Certification State

Only intrastate commerce and transportation!!! Clean-up.

Regulation:

Corporate Security and maintenance of all rail assets. Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism

Certification (C-TPAT) • Security assessment & certification

TRAMSA (Terrorism Risk Analysis and Security Management Plan)

• Security alert and response plan. Railway Alert System (RAN)

• Emergency response system and intelligence sharing. Surface Transportation Information Sharing Analysis

Center (ST-ISAC)• Protection of railroad IT systems.

Regulation

Assoc. of America

n Railroad

s

Depart-ment of Energy (DOE)

Dept. of Transpor-

tation (DOT)

Dept. of Homelan

d Security (DOH)

Railroad Industry

Federal Agency Involvement

Regulation Cont.

DOE

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Determines the standards for transportation of nuclear waste

Department of Energy

Regulation Cont.

Department of Homeland Security

Customs- Certification and Cargo Inspection

Coast Guard-

Cargo Entry Inspection

FEMA- Coordinatio

n of Emergency Response

DOH

Regulation Cont.

FTA-Commuter

Rail Security

STC- Economic Regulation

of Railroads (replaced

ICC)

OISC - DOT

Security Agency

ITSJPO – Coordination of all DOT Agencies

FRA -Enforcement of Railroad Regulation

DOT

Department of Transportation Interagency Coordination:

Risks & Vulnerabilities

Vulnerabilities to terrorism and sabotage: Hazardous cargo moving through high

population areas.• Industrial chemicals • Nuclear waste

Critical infrastructure with high traffic. Passenger Trains.

Risks & Vulnerabilities

High frequency of train accidents. Less expensive for rail carriers to clean up

accidents than to prevent accidents.

HazMat releases from train incidents in Arizona

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Year

Number of incidents

Spill

Vapor

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Year

Train Incidents in Arizona

Derailments Release of HazMat

Terrorism & Sabotage:

Scenario I: HazMat. High population center. Cargo of explosive or hazardous materials.

Terrorism & Sabotage:

Scenario I: Specifics. Phoenix, Tempe, or Tucson. Explosives on railcar or derailment. Large Blast Radius or Chemical Cloud.

PhoenixTucson

Terrorism & Sabotage:

Scenario I: Policy recommendations. Evacuation plan for metropolitan areas. Patrols of rail lines by local police. Divert shipments around cities when possible. Training for incident response team. Oversight by Office of Homeland Security and

Arizona Department of Homeland Security.

Terrorism & Sabotage:

Scenario II - Passenger: Amtrack train on Sunset route. High speed derailment or explosion.

Terrorism & Sabotage:

Scenario II -Specifics: High speed = High fatalities. Rock slides or high falls.

Scenario II – Policy Recommendations: Train Marshalls. Passenger Screenings. Police check bridges and tunnels.

Terrorism & Sabotage:

Scenario III – Take out the Bridge! Destroy Yuma Bridge with explosives. Remove rail ties near Tucson.

Yuma Bridge

Terrorism & Sabotage:

Scenario III: No Alternate

Routes!!! Disruption of

train service in Southwest, California and Texas.

Destruction of critical infrastructure.

Terrorism & Sabotage:

Scenario III-Policy Recommendations: Place sensors on bridges to detect

tampering. Visual Inspection by local police. Closed circuit monitoring coordinated

through ST-IASC.

Terrorism & Sabotage

Scenario IV – Nuclear Catastrophe: Attack a train carrying nuclear waste.

Terrorism & Sabotage

Scenario IV: Explosives placed on waste package. Derailment will “probably” not work.

Terrorism & Sabotage

Scenario IV - Specifics: Waste containers strong enough to

withstand crush forces and sustained burn. 40 pounds of shaped high level explosives

will vaporize waste and container. 30 times fatal radiation dose from α-

radiation. Nuclear chain reaction from γ-radiation.

• Less than 4% of radioactive waste.

Terrorism & Sabotage

Scenario IV – Policy Recommendations: Be very careful with γ-radiation.

Existing Policy• TRU waste packages.• Satellite Navigation Systems.• Armed Escorts.• Dedicated Trains.• Reinforced Train cars.• Special cars that check tracks before trains.

Terrorism & Sabotage

Other Scenarios. Dirty-Bomb moving through populated area

on train. Release of biological agent on train. Computer hacking into control center. Theft of train. Multiple scenario attack.

Questions?