I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5217 

To provide for the security and safety of rail transportation systems in 

the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 5, 2004 

Mr. CASTLE (for himself and Mr. KIRK) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To provide for the security and safety of rail transportation 

systems in the United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Railroad Security and Public Awareness Act of 2004’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Rail worker security training program. 

Sec. 3. Public awareness. 

Sec. 4. Railroad security upgrades. 
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1 SEC. 2. RAIL WORKER SECURITY TRAINING PROGRAM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 

4 Security, in consultation with appropriate law enforce5 ment, security, and terrorism experts, representatives of 

6 railroad carriers, and nonprofit employee organizations 

7 that represent rail workers, shall develop and issue de8 tailed guidance for a rail worker security training program 

9 to prepare front-line workers for potential threat condi10 tions. 

11 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The guidance developed 

12 under subsection (a) shall require such a program to in13 clude, at a minimum, elements that address the following: 

14 (1) Determination of the seriousness of any oc15 currence. 

16 (2) Crew communication and coordination. 

17 (3) Appropriate responses to defend oneself. 

18 (4) Use of protective devices. 

19 (5) Evacuation procedures. 

20 (6) Psychology of terrorists to cope with hi21 jacker behavior and passenger responses. 

22 (7) Live situational training exercises regarding 

23 various threat conditions, including tunnel evacu24 ation procedures. 

25 (8) All employee training provisions included in 

26 the Transportation Security Directive (SD 
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1 RAILPAX–04–01 and SD RAILRAX–04–02) issued 

2 under the authority of section 114 of title 49, 

3 United States Code, by the Transportation Security 

4 Administration on May 20, 2004. 

5 (9) Any other areas that the Secretary deems 

6 appropriate. 

7 (c) RAILROAD CARRIER PROGRAMS.—Not later than 

8 60 days after the Secretary issues guidance under sub9 section (a) in final form, each railroad carrier shall develop 

10 a rail worker security training program in accordance with 

11 that guidance and submit it to the Secretary for approval. 

12 Not later than 30 days after receiving a railroad carrier’s 

13 program under this subsection, the Secretary shall review 

14 the program and approve it or require the railroad carrier 

15 to make any revisions the Secretary considers necessary 

16 for the program to meet the guidance requirements. 

17 (d) TRAINING.—Not later than 180 days after the 

18 Secretary approves the training program developed by a 

19 railroad carrier under this section, the railroad carrier 

20 shall complete the training of all front-line workers in ac21 cordance with that program. 

22 (e) UPDATES.—The Secretary shall update the train23 ing guidance issued under subsection (a) from time to 

24 time to reflect new or different security threats, and re-
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1 quire railroad carriers to revise their programs accordingly 

2 and provide additional training to their front-line workers. 

3 (f) SECURITY TRAINING PROGRAM GRANTS.—The 

4 Secretary of Homeland Security is authorized to make 

5 grants to railroads (including intercity, heavy, and light 

6 rail), hazardous materials shippers, owners of rail cars 

7 used in the transportation of hazardous materials, univer8 sities, colleges, and research centers, and State and local 

9 governments (for railroad facilities and infrastructure) for 

10 full or partial reimbursement of costs incurred to imple11 ment the program detailed in subsection (a). 

12 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

13 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of 

14 Homeland Security $250,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 to 

15 carry out the purposes of this section. Amounts appro16 priated pursuant to this subsection shall remain available 

17 until expended. 

18 (h) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

19 term ‘‘front-line workers’’ means heavy and light rail em20 ployees who have daily access to the operations infrastruc21 ture and passengers of their rail systems. 

22 SEC. 3. PUBLIC AWARENESS. 

23 Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 

24 of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall de25 velop a national plan for public outreach and awareness. 
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1 Such plan shall be designed to increase awareness of 

2 measures that the general public, railroad passengers, and 

3 railroad employees can take to increase railroad system 

4 security. Such plan shall also provide outreach to railroad 

5 carriers and their employees to improve their awareness 

6 of available technologies, ongoing research and develop7 ment efforts, and available Federal funding sources to im8 prove railroad security. Not later than 9 months after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 

10 Security shall implement the plan developed under this 

11 section. 

12 SEC. 4. RAILROAD SECURITY UPGRADES. 

13 (a) SECURITY IMPROVEMENT GRANTS.—The Sec14 retary of Homeland Security is authorized to make grants 

15 to railroads (including intercity passenger and heavy and 

16 light rail), hazardous materials shippers, owners of rail 

17 cars used in the transportation of hazardous materials, 

18 universities, colleges, and research centers, and State and 

19 local governments (for railroad facilities and infrastruc20 ture) for full or partial reimbursement of costs incurred 

21 to prevent or respond to acts of terrorism, sabotage, or 

22 other railroad security threats, including providing for— 

23 (1) technologies for reduction of tank car vul24 nerability; 
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1 (2) demonstration of bridge and tunnel inspec2 tion technologies; 

3 (3) security and redundancy for critical commu4 nications, electric power (including traction power), 

5 computer, and train control systems essential for se6 cure railroad operations or to continue railroad oper7 ations after an attack impacting railroad operations; 

8 (4) the security of hazardous material transpor9 tation by railroad; 

10 (5) secure passenger railroad stations, trains, 

11 and infrastructure; 

12 (6) public security awareness campaigns for 

13 passenger train operations; 

14 (7) the sharing of intelligence and information 

15 about railroad security threats; 

16 (8) train tracking and interoperable commu17 nications systems that are coordinated to the max18 imum extent possible; 

19 (9) additional police and security officers, in20 cluding canine units; and 

21 (10) all provisions included in the Transpor22 tation Security Directives (SD RAILPAX–04–01 

23 and SD RAILPAX–04–02) issued under the author24 ity of section 114 of title 49, United States Code, 
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1 by the Transportation Security Administration on 

2 May 20, 2004. 

3 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of 

5 Homeland Security $250,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 to 

6 carry out the purposes of this section. Amounts appro7 priated pursuant to this subsection shall remain available 

8 until expended. 

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