Opening Remarks APTA Rail Conference

Thank you, Pete [Cipolla], for that kind introduction. It is always a pleasure to be here, among our friends and partners at APTA and throughout the transportation community.

And it is a privilege to share the dais with such a distinguished group, whose dedication to public transportation is well-known and much appreciated – Senator Sarbanes and Representative Cummings, Secretary Pocari, and Deputy Administrator White.

I must tell you that I was disappointed that I could not participate in the rail rodeo held on Saturday….especially, after I did so well at the APTA bus rodeo last fall. I think my 12-year-old son, however, was somewhat relieved. When I told him I had driven a 40-foot bus, he gasped, "I hope you kept your flashers on, Mom." So, I’m not sure he could have handled the thought of me behind the controls of a train.

I know that you have a very full agenda for the day, so I will keep my remarks short and confined to one of the most critical issues facing the transportation industry generally, and our transit and commuter rail operators, in particular – emergency preparedness and response.

As you know, last week President Bush announced his proposal to create a new Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security. The new department will incorporate FEMA, the Customs Service, the Coast Guard and other agencies critical to protecting America. Importantly, the department will also incorporate the Transportation Security Agency – recognizing that the protection of our nation’s transportation infrastructure and the people it serves must be given utmost priority.

The President’s proposal is also significant because it reminds us that the threat of terrorism is not transitory. It is real and it is ongoing.

Like Rome, the Department of Homeland Security won’t be built in a day. And that leaves us – the people in this room and the colleagues with whom we serve – with the enormous responsibility of protecting transportation and travelers, and helping our communities prepare to respond to emergencies. History shows that government reorganizations are painful and unsettling. The only thing more painful and unsettling would be not to transform and realign the current confusing patchwork of government activities into a single-focused department, as the President has proposed.

Over the past several months, the Transportation Security Agency has readied and is putting into place new security operations in our nation’s airports. During that time, we at FTA and you in transit agencies throughout the nation have stepped up to the new challenges that terrorism has brought. In the transition period to the new structure, I can assure that FTA will continue to do all it can to help transit agencies prepare for and respond to emergency situations.

I know many of you are going to extraordinary lengths to do so. A few weeks ago, for example, I had the privilege of participating in the opening ceremony for an important facility in the Washington metropolitan area – WMATA’s new rail emergency training facility. This new emergency training facility is now providing a realistic environment for fire, police, and emergency response departments from local jurisdictions to practice fire and rescue exercises, terrorism and disaster drills, and other simulations involving Metro trains and tunnels.

The facility is the first of its kind in the United States and includes a full-scale rail tunnel complete with two Metrorail cars.

I especially want to thank and commend you as transit and commuter rail operators for your enthusiastic participation in FTA’s security assessments over past six months. These assessments were neither fun nor easy. They were, in fact, hard work and very sobering.

Every system that participated – even the most well-prepared – found unique security challenges and vulnerabilities. Looking at the overall results, we also found some common issues and concerns. I want to share a few of these key findings with you and make certain that you know about the resources available to help you address these concerns.

The first – and early – finding was that there was a need for standard protocols for handling potential chemical and biological threats in a transit environment. As a result, you now have available guidelines for transit employees, first responders and local emergency units on handling, responding to and recovering from a chemical or biological threat. If you still need these guidelines, call FTA’s security office and we will send them out immediately.

Second, we found that a number of agencies need additional assistance in security planning and training. In response, FTA is now sending out technical assistance teams to help those agencies address the gaps in planning and training that were identified.

The third widespread finding of the assessments was that there was a continuing need to practice emergency response procedures. Or, in the words of a colleague in New York, "drill, drill, drill." Response must be fast, it must be "automatic," it must be coordinated. And no amount of paper will tell you where you have problems as well as a real live test.

We know that emergency response drills are time consuming and can be costly. So I have recently announced the availability of grants up to $50,000 for the largest 100 transit agencies to support one or more emergency drills. We encourage you to develop collaborative applications with other transit agencies in your metropolitan area … and you may pool the funds available to each transit agency if you choose to work together. Even better -- no local match is required. They are simple and straightforward. Your project proposals are due by August 1^st. You can find additional information about these grants at the FTA Security Booth at the Conference or on the FTA website.

Please make the time to conduct these drills…and if you need help financially, take advantage of these grants. There is truly nothing more important.

Finally, the security assessments found that there is much work to be done to develop necessary relationships among local emergency response agencies, as well as a unified plan and command structure for community response.

In response to this problem, last month, we held the first of 17 new training forums that FTA is offering free of charge in communities around the country. These forums – which we call "Connecting Communities – Emergency Preparedness and Security Forums" -- are designed to bring together all of the emergency response elements in a community. They will be held in large metropolitan areas, but with a particular focus on the small and midsize surrounding communities, for emergencies do not respect jurisdictional boundaries and emergency response must also cross those boundaries. At the forums, officials from the region will – together – have the opportunity to either begin developing or to enhance your plans, tools and relationships necessary to respond effectively in an emergency situation.

I look forward to seeing the right people from your transit agency at for the forum being held nearest to your community. I am also asking that you take personal responsibility for securing the participation of other important players in your community – other transit agencies, police and fire officials, emergency medical services personnel, and state and local government emergency management coordinators.

Again, you can get more specific information about these opportunities at our security booth here at the conference, or through the FTA website. If you haven’t yet done so, now is the time to get more information and sign up.

In transit and commuter rail, good customer service demands an inherently open environment. But it also demands that we do all that we can to protect our riders and our communities.

So, in the spirit of 9-11, "Let’s roll."