Watchdog recommends more enhancements to passenger rail security

Moscow, Madrid, London, Mumbai -- the datelines change but the story remains the same: terrorists target passenger rail systems with deadly effectiveness. Last week's suicide bombing at a Moscow subway station, less than two months after al Qaeda recruit Najibullah Zazi pled guilty to plotting to blow up the New York City subway, was only the latest reminder that mass transit continues to be an attractive target for terrorists.

Since 1995 there have been 250 attacks on passenger rail systems worldwide, resulting in 900 deaths and more than 6,000 injuries. According to the American Public Transportation Association, more than 12 million commuters use such rail systems every day in the United States.

A report Friday by Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner found that the Transportation Security Administration must improve the way it assesses emergency preparedness and response capabilities. The agency also should boost training for local rail agencies and first responders, the watchdog said.

Under the 2007 Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act, the Homeland Security Department is required to review passenger rail strategies and security assessments to identify weaknesses in emergency response and planning and employee training.

While TSA implemented the Baseline Assessment and Security Enhancement program to develop an understanding of rail agencies' security and emergency preparedness, the program's assessment processes and database do not consistently gather, review and score data regarding preparedness and capabilities, the IG found.

In addition, security directors and inspectors at different locations described inconsistent processes for making the security assessments.

TSA also is required to develop and issue regulations for training programs to prepare public transportation and front-line railroad employees for potential security threats and conditions. Based on insight gained from the BASE assessments, TSA developed a training matrix that includes 103 courses sponsored by the agency, the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But few of the courses focus on front-line employees or firefighter response efforts, raising concern among the IG staff that those employees are not receiving the training they need.

The IG made four recommendations for improving the BASE and various training programs. While TSA officials concurred with all four recommendations and are taking steps to implement them, they felt auditors presented only a partial picture of federal support for improving security of passenger rail systems.

In a letter to Skinner, TSA acting Administrator Gale Rossides wrote, "Because the report does not account for the responsibilities, programs and resource investments by the two other key federal entities in the emergency preparedness mission, [the Transportation Department] and FEMA, there is an incomplete analysis of the subject area, which incorrectly conveys the impression that TSA is the lead and solely responsible entity."

The IG's conclusion that the agency has not provided enough training for first responders and passenger rail employees "both understates TSA's efforts in security training and overstates TSA's mission responsibilities," Rossides said.

Security of mass transit systems is likely to receive more attention in the near future. The Government Accountability Office later this month plans to issue an assessment of explosives detection technologies to protect passenger rails, officials there said.

The report will examine the availability and effectiveness of technologies to detect explosives on rail cars, as well as the implications for using such technologies.

Such attention comes as mass transit systems are facing unprecedented fiscal challenges. According to a March industry report, the recession has resulted in widespread declines in the state and local revenues that fund passenger rail systems, forcing more than 80 percent of operators to raise fares, cut services or both.