Major Vulnerabilities to
Railway Security
Looking at the past, the
Large Area Covered by
Railroads
http://www.dot.state.ga.us/DOT/plan-prog/intermodal/rail/images/NATIONAL_RAIL_MAP2.jpg
Possibly the largest, and probably most
obvious, vulnerabilities to railways is the sheer amount of railroad tracks
around the country. There are over 100,000 miles of rail in the
Points Where Cargo Is
Transferred
Image
obtained from: http://www.tandler.co.uk/boat.jpg
Another vulnerability posed to railways is
at points of which cargo is transferred from one mode of transportation to the
other. The issue of port and border security extends far beyond the issue of
rail security, although railroads, by virtue of the facts that they carry
millions of containers unloaded from or loaded onto steamships each year and
move hundreds of thousands of railcars and intermodal units across the Canadian
and Mexican border each year, are certainly impacted (AAR
Hearing). The sheer number of cargo loaded onto trains makes it physically
impossible to actually examine each freight container. This makes it extremely
hard to be positive no dangerous materials have made it onto trains they
shouldn’t be on.
An example of this vulnerability is when
cargo is taken from a cargo ship at a port and then placed on a freight train
for land transportation. Even if proper railway security is in place,
vulnerabilities may still arise if the security at the port allowed for
possibly harmful cargo to get through its own security measures. In this case,
the security of the railway is directly affected by the security of other modes
of transportation such as the cargo ship and port security.
Train Schedule Databases
Another huge security vulnerability that
must be addressed is that of databases containing schedules for shipment of
sensitive materials. Schedules of what shipments are going where, and what they
contain are kept of trains so that they can get to where they are going
efficiently. However, if access to these databases is gained by someone who is
not supposed to have that information, a huge security breach could arise.
If terrorists get access to schedules for
hazardous material shipments, they would be able to coordinate a terrorist
attack accordingly. Access to such information would allow them to know exactly
where a train will be at exactly what time. This could allow for terrorists to
set explosives on a track that they know a hazardous materials shipment is
going to be using. This also provides terrorists with opportunities to hijack
trains in areas where they know security is lax.
Information for this section was gathered
from: http://www.aar.org/Rail_Safety/Rail_Security_plan.asp
Train Station Lack of
Security
Image
obtained from: http://www.marblevenus.net/Cecile's%20material/instant%20train%20station.jpg
A vulnerability unique to passenger trains
is that they are constantly making highly predictable scheduled stops along the
way to their destination. This makes it very easy for terrorist to know exactly
where a train is going to be, and how to get to it. People are free to board
and exit the train at each stop along the way. Unlike in airports, there are no
secure areas in which all passengers must pass through designated security
stations to get to. People are free to come and go as they please, and that
poses a severe problem in terms of ease of access for terrorists.
The nature of this vulnerability is
inherent within the design of passenger trains themselves however. Train
stations require that passengers be able to quickly board and exit trains. With
extensive security measures in place, such as security checkpoints that
passengers must go through, passenger train companies are likely to lose
business. If boarding a train became too much of a hassle, passengers would be
more likely to simply drive somewhere, or take other means of transportation
like a bus or plane.
Information for this section was gathered
from: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL32625.pdf
Ambiguity in Who Is Responsible
For Security
The last major vulnerability with railway
security is that the
This poses a problem, because with the
agencies working separate of one another, the possibility for gaps in security
arises. If each agency thinks that the others have already thoroughly covered a
particular vulnerability, it is possible that none of them will actually put in
the time and work necessary to fully secure that vulnerability.
Another costly problem with not having a specific agency responsible for
railway security is that certain security aspects that are completely secure
may be covered multiple times by multiple agencies. On the surface this seems
like a good thing, because we are positive that that aspect is entirely
covered. However, if you look at the financial costs of repeatedly covering the
same security aspects multiple times, it becomes obvious that a large amount of
funds are wasted that could be used on securing other vulnerabilities.
Information for this section was gathered
from: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04598t.pdf
Major
Likely Forms of Attack Aimed at Railways
The
major forms of attack that are likely to be aimed at railways can be narrowed
down to three subgroups. The purpose of this section is to identify what
constitutes an attack in each of these subgroups, as well as elaborate on
possible real world implementation of each subgroup.
Destruction
of Trains and/or Railways Themselves
Image obtained from: http://www.lampholderpub.com/Graniteville.S.C.1-8-05trainwreck.EPA.gov.jpg
In
this particular subgroup, the primary objective of an attack would be to cause
as much destruction and damage as possible to anyone onboard, and within the
immediate vicinity of a train. This can be accomplished by in many ways. The
first way I will discuss is through the use of bombs on the actual trains
themselves.
A
bomb could be placed on either a passenger train, or a freight train carrying a
number of different cargos. Due to vulnerabilities in the security of actual
train stations, a terrorist could place a bomb on a train and detonate it at
any point while the train is in transit to its destination. Prime targets for
this type of attack would be passenger trains containing a large number of
passengers, as well as trains containing shipments of hazardous materials. The
latter of which would most likely be detonated while the train is close to a
highly populated area, such as a major city or town.
Another
way that terrorists could destroy a train is through making an attack with the
intent to derail the targeted train. This type of attack could be orchestrated
by destroying important sections of railway along a trains designated path. An
example of this would be if a terrorist destroyed a bridge along a trains path
before the train would have enough time to effectively stop, resulting in a
derailment. An destroying a bridge like this over a waterway could be extremely
destructive if the trains cargo is hazardous and ends up seeping into the water,
which would result in a massive amount of pollution or contaminated water
supply.
An
example of the contamination of a water supply by derailment is clearly
illustrated below. The railroad tracks in this picture go right around this
local water supply in
Image obtained from: http://www.railroadcity.com/hc/index.php
Attacks
with the aim of derailing and/or destroying a train can also come in the form
of attacks made at railroad crossings. Examples of this could be by parking
large vehicles filled with explosives on a railroad crossing, or even driving a
an explosive filled or large vehicle into the side of a train as it passes over
a railroad crossing. If orchestrated properly, the effects could be extremely
damaging to any local cities or towns if chemicals or other hazardous materials
are present on the train. An attack like this on a passenger train could also
cause a sever loss of life.
Hi-jacking
of Trains
In
this type of attack a train’s contents is of some value to the terrorists or
criminals. These contents could include chemicals which could be used as
weapons, biological weapons, or in the case of a military shipment, military
weapons and supplies. This type of attack sounds like something out of a movie,
but it could in fact be orchestrated in a real life scenario. With information
on when and where a train containing a shipment of interest, terrorist or
criminals could use the resources available to them to infiltrate trains in
transit and effectively hijack them.
Hijackings
could be particularly effective on trains that have little or no physical
security on the trains themselves. An instance of this would be if a shipment
of hazardous materials was only operated by a few conductors in the front car.
Once on board, hijackers could easily eliminate the few conductors’ and then
have full control of the train. With control of the train, and due to the vast
amount of railroad tracks around the country, the hijackers could stop the
train in a deserted area and make away with their cargo of interest.
Breaching
Railway Databases
The last form of a possible attack on railways comes in
the form of breaching confidential railway databases to obtain top secret
information. This type of attack can be conducted either by hacking into an
electronic database housing the sensitive information, or by physically
obtaining the information from an onsite source. Once the information is
obtained it would be more than likely sold to or used by terrorists to conduct
either the first or second type of attack mentioned previously.
Breaching
railway databases in the previously mentioned way can actually be thought of as
a preliminary step to the first two forms of attack. The reason for this is
because obtaining information on hazardous material shipments allows for
terrorists to better orchestrate an attack on a target, because they will know
what it is carrying and where it will be.
Another
type of attack that could be used involving railway databases is data
alteration. If someone were to access sensitive databases they could have the
ability to alter the time tables of when certain trains will be on certain
tracks. A variety of vulnerabilities could arise from this. A prevalent example
of this would be if someone were to make it seem as though a particular track
was clear, when it actually already has a train using it. This could cause
anything from head on collisions to extreme confusion as to what trains are
actually where they are supposed to be.
All
of the attacks mentioned on this page are hypothetical situations our group
came up with and were not taken from any specific texts; however, the ideas
were influenced by the following articles and reports:
The CRS Report
for Congress - Passenger Rail Security: Overview of Issues
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL32625.pdf
The GAO Report on Rail Security
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04598t.pdf
The
http://www.aar.org/PubCommon/Documents/Testimony/Oct%2020%20AAR%20Security%20Testimony.pdf