§1169 Railroad Tank Car Security Testing

Summary

The Secretary must study how terrorists might attack a railroad tank car carrying toxic-inhalation-hazard materials and rate how likely each method is to cause deaths, injuries, or serious harm to people, the environment, infrastructure, national security, the economy, or public welfare. The work must use current threat information, include physical tests of tank car strength, consider attacks such as explosives or heavy weapons, and, within 30 days after finishing the study, send a report to the appropriate congressional committees. Using the National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center, the Secretary must also model how a toxic release from a loaded tank car would spread in cities and rural areas. The models must account for likely attack methods and release rates, time of day, population size and density, real wind and weather, whether the car is moving, local emergency response, and other factors. The Secretary must consult transportation and hazmat experts, railroads, unions, state and local officials, and other agencies, share results with stakeholders under proper protections, and send a report to the same congressional committees within 30 days of finishing the analyses.