Training for Recognition of IED’s for Railcar Inspections

On December 26th the new Rail Transportation Security Rule will take effect. One of the requirements of that rule is that all covered hazmat shippers are required to inspect railcars for signs of tampering or the presence of improvised explosive devices {§ 1580.107(a)(1)}. Obviously the covered hazmat shippers will be required to train their personnel to complete this requirement. In an earlier blog (see: “Rail Transportation Security – Rail Car Chain of Custody”) I noted that “According to the preamble to this final rule (page 84) TSA is in the process of completing a DVD that may be used to train people in ‘identifying IEDs and signs of rail car tampering’.” Well, yesterday I did a search of the TSA site, and sure enough they do have such a training DVD available. All you have to do is copy the request form (TSA Form 1913) from the TSA site and mail it off to the address on the form or send it by email to freightrailsecurity@dhs.gov. According to the form there is also a Freight Rail Security Awareness Brochure that can be requested at the same time. I have not had a chance to review either yet. As you might expect, as soon as I get a chance to review these training tools, I’ll certainly report on them in a future blog.