How secure are America's railroads?

Railway Age, March, 2005

For railroads, the enemy is no longer trucks and buses; it's terrorism. In the wake of 9/11 and the Madrid train bombings, security efforts top todays priority lists. And critical to those efforts are cooperation and information sharing, Norfolk Southern Vice Chairman and COO Stephen Tobias told the 150 attendees of Railway Age's inaugural Railway Security Forum and Expo during his keynote address. The railroads, government agencies, and security experts must continue to work together to protect assets--the public and employees, rolling stock, and infrastructure, he maintained. These were among the main themes of the two-day conference, presented in cooperation with the Association of American Railroads, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, American Public Transportation Association, and Railway Supply Institute.

The 38 speakers addressed such topics as funding, training and awareness, hazmat transport, and technology for both freight and passenger rail systems. With 23 exhibitors, attendees had a chance to see some of the latest available security, technologies, as well.

BNSF AVP/Chief of Police John Clark pointed out that railroads are doing all they can to keep the network secure--through the industry security plan, the "eyes and ears" of employees, and technology. "Taking away opportunity" is key, he said. Clark also suggested that a government coordinating council is the next step. "It would help us get the right players at the table where information could be shared on critical infrastructure. States, railroads, military, mad government agencies all have completed vulnerability studies, but we need coordination and sharing so that local police departments can open a play book if an alert goes up and know what's expected of them. We have to get out of the assessment phase and into the protection phase."

Guest luncheon speaker Peter Loverso, deputy COO of the Transportation Security Administration, underscored the importance of ensuring that all transportation modes be "equally strong and buttressed." "We cannot drive our enemies from one mode to another to exploit potential weaknesses," he said, adding that TSA initiatives, like TRIP, will help improve security across the board.

But technology alone isn't enough, confirmed many participants, including Dale Zehner, CEO of VRE. "If you don't work together, I don't know if technology is going to help you," Zehner said.

Railroads also must be mindful of riders and shippers who depend on them, when it comes to security. "Commerce is crucially important to this nation," Pep. Don Young (R-Alaska) and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said during a joint luncheon of the Railway Security Forum and Expo and the Maritime and Port Security conference (held by sister publication Marine Log). "I say if we become so failsafe that it interferes with the flow of commerce, especially maritime and rail, then the bad guys have won." He stressed that the rail and marine industries should not allow Congress to micromanage their security plans. "You have the responsibility to let your congressman know the importance of keeping commerce moving and yet being secure. Don't let us decide how you're going to do it."

Attendees were asked to consider and take away these questions: How can we improve security? What are we doing now that we can do better? What are we missing? What should our industry be doing to meet the next challenge! And once those questions are answered, "Ask them again," NS's Tobias challenged. Why?

"The lessons we fail to learn today," summed up Alphus Hinds, head of secure risk at Interfleet Technology, "are the lessons terrorism will use against us tomorrow." (Look for a more detailed conference proceedings report in the May 2005 issue.)