cRA SUPPORTS NEW YORK CITY'S 'OPERATION TRANSIT SAFE'

In response to the Madrid, Spain transit system terrorist attack on March 11, 2004, the New York City Office of Emergency Management (NYC – OEM) requested, through the USDHS/Grants & Training, support to design and execute a large, full scale exercise. CRA worked with NYC – OEM in the development of this large exercise which was delivered six weeks after being tasked by Grants & Training.

The Operation Transit SAFE Full-Scale Exercise was a 4-hour full scale exercise simulating two terrorist explosions onboard New York City subway trains. It was held on May 16, 2004, in New York, NY.

The Operation Transit SAFE simulated terrorist scenario involved the detonation of two explosive devices, each placed in a small backpack on northbound and southbound Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) subway trains at the Bowling Green Station in lower Manhattan.

For the purposes of the simulation, the devices caused extensive damage to each of the targeted subway cars, but only minor damage to the structure of the MTA station. The blasts resulted in more than 40 fatalities and hundreds of injuries. The incident required the evacuation of the entire subway station during a morning rush-hour commute.

The exercise involved approximately 900 responders, 300 victims, 200 observers and a control and evaluation staff of 130.