§1169 Railroad tank car security testing

Summary

The Secretary must study how terrorists might attack railroad tank cars that carry toxic-inhalation-hazard materials and how likely each method is to cause deaths, injuries, health or environmental damage, harm to critical infrastructure or national security, economic loss, or public harm. The Secretary must use current threat information and may look at things like explosives on the tracks or cars and the use of missiles, grenades, rockets, mortars, or other large weapons. The Secretary must also do physical tests to see how vulnerable tank cars are and use technical criteria to check their structural strength. Within 30 days after finishing that work, the Secretary must give a report to the appropriate congressional committees. Through the National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center, the Secretary must run air-dispersion models showing how releases of toxic gases from an attacked, loaded tank car would spread in cities and rural areas. The models must consider likely attack methods and dispersal rates; time of day and weather; population size and density; historical wind and temperature data; whether the car is moving or stopped; local emergency response; and any other relevant factors. The Secretary must consult with the Secretary of Transportation, hazardous materials experts, railroad companies, railroad employee labor groups, state, local, and tribal officials, and other federal agencies. The results must be shared with appropriate stakeholders with needed protections, and a report must be sent to the appropriate congressional committees within 30 days after the analyses are finished.