Railroad - AAR Security Plan

Because enhanced security has become a long-term necessity, the AAR has instilled regulations to ensure that railroad carriers and HAZMAT employees are fully prepared for any security related event.

Using national intelligence community "best practices," the Railroad Security Task Force developed a comprehensive risk analysis and security plan that includes:

• A database of railroad critical assets
• Assessments of railroad vulnerabilities
• Analysis of the terrorism threat
• Calculations of risk
• Identifications of countermeasures to reduce risk
• Definition of alert levels
• Delineation of actions to be taken at each alert level
• Functions of the AAR operations center and railroad alert network

The plan establishes four alert levels and describes a progressive series of actions to thwart terrorist threats to railroad personnel and facilities. These actions are applied in the areas of operations, information technology and communications, and police.

• Level 1: New normal day-to-day operations
• Level 2: Heightened security awareness
• Level 3: A credible threat of an attack on the Unites States or the railroad industry
• Level 4: A confirmed threat of attack against the railroad industry or actual attack in the United States (implemented up to 72 hours and reevaluated)

To enable immediate response, the railroad sector maintains communication pathways with the DOD, DOT, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigations, and state and local law enforcement divisions.

Actions taken by railroads since September 11th include the following:

• After consulting with federal security agencies, declared "Red Alert" status for 72 hours beginning with the start of U.S. military action in Afghanistan
• Increased employee security awareness and training to ensure that over 200,000 railroad employees became the eyes and ears of the railroad industry's security.
• Compared employee records to FBI terrorist lists
• Created new position of Vice President of Security at the AAR
• Established a 24/7 AAR operations center to coordinate industry-wide rail freight security actions
• Increased tracking and inspection of certain HAZMAT and munitions movements
• Increased security of railroad physical assets
• Increased random inspections
• Conducted spot identification checks
• Increased coordination with U.S. Department of Defense
• Increased cyber security procedures
• Implemented encryption technology for selected data communications

To learn more about Railroad HAZMAT visit our DOT Railroad HAZMAT Online Training web page.