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July 7, 2005: NORTON PRESSES PASSAGE OF HER SAFE TRAINS ACT AFTER LONDON BOMBING

January 10, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 7, 2005

NORTON PRESSES PASSAGE OF HER SAFE TRAINS ACT AFTER LONDON BOMBING

Washington, DC-- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a member of the Homeland Security Committee, today said: “We stand in solidarity and sympathy with the people of London, especially the relatives of those who died and others who were injured. The question here, of course, is how close does it have to get before Congress and the Administration move to protect millions of riders on mass transit?” She called for passage of the Safe TRAINS Act, which she has sponsored since last year, as soon as Congress returns from the July 4th break. Her bill would begin the process of doing for rail, light rail, subways, buses, and commuter transportation before the fact, what Congress did for aviation after the fact. With more than 37 reported dead in the London attack this morning, seven killed in the South Carolina hazardous rail accident, and hundreds sent to the hospital there earlier this year, Norton said that the United States “is way overdue on waking to the security dangers for mass transportation in our country.”

Congress has appropriated about $400 million for public transportation security, but about $15 billion to secure aviation travel. “Particularly after the Madrid train catastrophe, the contrast between our preparedness in air and in public transportation has become untenable,” Norton said. “Public transportation, with 9 billion passenger trips annually, is what our people ride.” Norton tried to get the entire Safe TRAINS Act, which is sponsored by all the Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee, added to the authorization bill. However, she was able to negotiate into the bill two of the Act’s amendments requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop passenger security best practices to be used by mass transportation operators, and to develop a national plan for public outreach and awareness for passengers and for employees to prevent and to respond to terrorist attacks on rail and mass transit.

“I find our response to the clear and present danger to rail security especially frustrating considering that all of the security data show that Al Qaeda and other terrorists commit many more attacks on mass transportation than in the air,” Norton said. She said that Metro here had a head start on most underground transportation systems because of steps it began to take after the Oklahoma City bombing, but what Metro has done has been mostly on its own; the security expertise in Washington has not been made systematically available to mass transit operators with the necessary instruction from Congress. She did not get her amendments to protect against attacks on rail carrying hazardous substances in the Homeland Security bill, but was able to negotiate committee report language that the DHS secretary issue guidance to companies for rail shipments of hazardous substances, including pre-notification of shipments to local law enforcement agencies and first responders, setting protocols for effective and immediate communication between shippers and local authorities, training for employees who work with hazardous material shipments and those who would respond to an attack, and other important security provisions (Agencies usually regard such language as an instruction to proceed as directed). Norton said that the attacks in Madrid and in London seem to indicate a shift in tactics to coordinated mass transportation attacks, which are far easier to do. She noted that the London attacks occurred on bus and underground rail despite London’s greater experience with security and ubiquitous camera systems. Norton said that in light of the London tragedy, she will attempt to get the Safe TRAINS Act considered during the three months left in the session.