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Transportation
Engineers
Tackle Massive Concerns for Mass Transit
Screening
large numbers of passengers quickly is key
(enr.construction.com - 05/31/04 issue)
By Kathleen
McFall
The bombings on Madrid’s rail lines
on March 11 that killed 191 and wounded 2,000 highlighted
a stark reality long known to security experts. They say protecting
ground transportation from terrorism is a task that will require
billions of dollars, innovative approaches, years of effort,
accelerated research–and ultimately will be only moderately
effective.
Achieving even acceptable risk will
"require a lot of ingenuity from our engineering community,"
says Edward Badolato, executive vice president for homeland
security in The Shaw Group’s Washington, D.C., office.
"We are in a situation where we have to do better."
Doing better will be a big challenge.
In New York City, commuter lines and subways handle 5 million
passengers on an average weekday, with roughly 350,000 passengers
passing through Penn Station alone. New York’s subway
system has 468 stations–all with multiple access points.
Nationwide, security planners are faced
with vetting tens of millions of passengers every day and
correcting an almost infinite number of structural vulnerabilities.
"Trains, subways and buses are the new arena for terrorists
concerned with body counts and willing to kill indiscriminately,"
says Brian Michael Jenkins, director of the National Transportation
Security Center at Mineta Transportation Institute, San Jose,
Calif.
Congress is reacting. In April, the
Senate Commerce Committee cleared a measure authorizing $1.2
billion to tighten security on passenger and freight railroads.
On May 6, the Senate Banking Committee approved a bill providing
$5.2 billion for transit security, including $3.5 billion
for capital projects. The American Public Transportation Association
pegs security needs at $6 billion and seeks $2 billion of
that for 2005 (ENR 5/17 p. 11). But the House is moving slowly.
The main problem is how to secure transit
and inter-city rail and maintain their roles as convenient,
inexpensive and accessible ways to travel in and between congested
cities. "New York’s Penn Station is one square block
and it handles more passengers each day than all three New
York airports combined. How do you secure an area like this?"
asks Amtrak spokesperson Dan Stessel.
Tom Ridge, secretary of the Dept. of
Homeland Security (DHS), hopes new technology may help. "It’s
conceivable, since everybody ultimately goes through a portal,
that there might be a device or devices that we might be able
to deploy as people enter the system," he says. OnMay
4, DHS began a 30-day test to screen baggage for explosives
at Amtrak’s New Carrollton, Md., station. Many see this
as little more than a data-gathering exercise because the
cost and delays associated with airline-type security make
it impractical for transit. It also could push people back
into their cars. With nearly 43,000 U.S. highway deaths in
2003, that would displace one risk with another with "no
net security benefit to the nation," says Jenkins.
DHSon May 20 issued mandatory directives
for transit and inter-city rail lines that include removing
some trash containers and designating coordinators to improve
communications with federal officials. "These protective
measures, along with others already in place, advance our
mission to ensure rail passengers are protected," says
DHS Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson.
Airline security focuses on deterrence,
while mass transit emphasizes minimizing casualties and quickly
restoring service after an attack. With this in mind, U.S.
cities are conducting vulnerability assessments in order to
set priorities. "This month, we will begin issuing contracts
to shore up our infrastructure," says Tom Kelly, spokesperson
for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority. "We
have $590 million to spend in addition to a $300-million budget
for fences, barricades, barriers and quick constructions."
The New York City office of Hinman Consulting
Engineers, a design firm specializing in blast-resistant buildings,
has done blast evaluations at Grand Central Terminal, Penn
Station, Triborough and Verrazano Narrows bridges and Queens
Midtown Tunnel. "The goal is to prevent structures from
falling down on people," says Nanci Buscemi, Hinman structural
engineer. While there always will be a weapon bigger than
engineers design for, structural hardening and other steps
are effective, cost-effective and doable, she says. "In
some cases we recommend an imposed standoff using perimeter
barriers, or construction of an architectural element around...
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