CHARACTERISTICS AND COMMON VULNERABILITIES INFRASTRUCTURE CATEGORY: SUBWAYS	SENSITIVE HOMELAND SECURITY INFORMATION – LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE	September 22, 2003	Download
POTENTIAL INDICATORS OF TERRORIST ACTIVITY INFRASTRUCTURE CATEGORY: SUBWAYS	SENSITIVE HOMELAND SECURITY INFORMATION – LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE	September 22, 2003	Download

 

To consider terrorist threat indicators in relationship to subways, it is useful to understand the characteristics of U.S. subway systems and why these facilities might be attractive targets for terrorist attack.

A subway system, as defined here, includes not only the portion of a rail rapid transit system that
is underground, but also the other portions of the rail rapid transit system, even if they are not
beneath the ground surface. Data for U.S. subways are typically collected under the heading of
“heavy rail,” which is an electric railway with the capacity to transport a heavy volume of
passenger traffic and characterized by exclusive rights-of-way, multi-car trains, high speed, rapid
acceleration, sophisticated signaling, and high-platform loading. Heavy rail is also known as
“subway,” “elevated (railway),” or “metropolitan railway (metro).” Subway systems are
typically only one division of a transit agency. Bus, light rail, and commuter rail often operate as
feeders to subway stations.

Subways provide efficient and critical transportation links under, over, or through natural or
manmade obstacles. Subways are potentially attractive targets because they have easy access,
relatively little security, high concentrations of people in enclosed environments, moving trains,
and ventilation shafts, station entrances, and exits above ground leading to an entire city.
Terrorists or terrorist groups may target subways to (1) cause bodily harm or death, and/or
(2) cause serious economic harm, as depicted in Figure 1. Bodily harm or death could be
accomplished by (1) a direct attack on the train with explosive devices, chemical weapons,
biological weapons, or radiological weapons, or (2) releasing hazardous materials at the subway
and thereby potentially affecting subway customers and employees as well as people at the
surface near ventilation shafts and station entrances and exits. Serious economic harm could be
accomplished through direct damage and destruction of the subway and/or by diverting,
delaying, and snarling metropolitan traffic for a lengthy time during repairs and reconstruction.

…

The transportation mode “subway” is sometimes referred to as Heavy Rail or Rapid Transit.
Throughout the U.S., there are 14 subway systems consisting of more than 1500 route miles,
over 1,000 stations, and approximately 10,500 subway cars. Approximately one-half of these
subway stations are located underground. The New York City Transit Agency is the largest
subway system in this country (64 percent of one-way trips, 58 percent of passenger miles, and
half of the passenger stations), with more than 6,000 scheduled trains per day carrying over 3
million passengers. Transit agencies operating subways in the U.S.are as follows:

1. Atlanta, GA – Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Agency – MARTA
2. Baltimore, MD – Mass Transit Administration – MTA
3. Boston, MA – Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority – MBTA
4. Chicago, IL – Chicago Transit Authority – CTA
5. Cleveland, OH – Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
6. Los Angeles, CA – Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
7. Miami, FL – Miami-Dade Transit Agency
8. New York, NY – MTA – New York City Transit
9. New York, NY – MTA – Staten Island Railway
10. New York, NY – Port Authority of New York/New Jersey – PATH
11. Philadelphia, PA – Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
12. Lindenwald, NJ – Port Authority Transit Corporation – PATCO
13. San Francisco, CA – San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit – BART
14. Washington, DC – Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority – WMATA

All subway cars (except those in Cleveland and small sections of a branch in Chicago and
Boston, which are powered by overhead catenary) are powered by an electrified “third rail,” with
a 600-volt capability. The inclusion of this third rail requires that subways be separated from
other traffic for safety reasons by an exclusive right-of-way that does not interface with
automotive or other passenger or freight cars.

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