Transit security design considerations

As transit agencies across the United States take steps to protect their systems from possible terrorist attacks, agency decision makers are confronted with numerous security issues and demands. They must assess passengers, system assets, and potential threats, and determine which threats are most likely and which have the potential to cause the most damage. To help the public transit industry manage these high-risk security demands, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has collaborated with the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center of the U.S. Department of Transportation (the Volpe Center), the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and other stakeholders to develop an approach for protecting public transit systems that recognizes the fundamental interconnectivity of transit systems, and emphasizes the importance of readiness and vigilance. This document provides an overview of the major assets of transit systems-bus vehicles, rail vehicles, and transit infrastructure and communications-as well as a preliminary assessment of the vulnerabilities to various methods of attack inherent in each asset. In addition, this document addresses the topics of access management, systems integration, and communications-all crucial to the protection of transit assets. Although many of the subject areas are addressed discretely in the document, users of the resource must recognize the interconnectivity of the considerations and hardening strategies that are presented. For this reason, consulting the sections on both infrastructure and access management will provide additional value when developing a strategy for protecting and hardening a maintenance facility or rail terminal.