Emergency preparedness, response, and recovery in the transit industry.

This digest summarizes the mission performed March 16-31, 2007, under TCRP Project J-03, "International Transit Studies Program." It includes an overview of the mission that investigated emergency preparedness programs in the public transportation systems in several Asian cities (Hong Kong, Beijing, Tangshan, Seoul, Kobe, and Tokyo). The report begins in Section I with general observations by the mission team about the state of transit emergency preparedness in the cities visited. In Section II, information gathered about the policies and programs in place in each of the transit environments is provided. Section III shows how the different transit systemsmanage key emergency functions, including the following: control centers,Information Technology (IT) and telecommunications, interagency coordination, public communications, and evacuation planning.