(The El Paso Times published the following story by Louie Gilot on its website on October 27.)
EL PASTO, Texas — A new machine that lets border agents inspect trains as they cross into the United States is revolutionizing railroad security in El Paso.
Before this summer, trains would come from Mexico over the two Downtown railroad bridges and a pair of Customs and Border Protection officers would walk a dog along the cars. They would shine a flashlight at tightly-packed containers of auto parts and produce looking for drugs and undocumented immigrants. It would be done at night because Juárez only allows trains to come through its clogged downtown after 10 p.m.
“It took one to two hours. It was a long and somewhat dangerous process,” said Fredrick Keyser, assistant port director of trade operations for Customs and Border Protection.
There were never that many seizures on trains — only one seizure of 890 pounds of marijuana this year, in March — but officials never knew what they had missed.
Now, a train doesn’t stop, but rather inches between the two metallic arms of a Vehicle And Cargo Inspection System, or VACIS, that beams gamma rays at the cars. One officer monitors the screening on a computer in a nearby booth.
About three weeks ago, officers saw one man lying on top of a train on their computer screen and arrested him. Gamma rays emitted by the VACIS are harmless to humans, officials said.
Mark Davis, spokesman for Union Pacific, said his company is delighted with the time-saving technology, and officials reported no major technical glitches.
The VACIS machines cost $750,000 to $1 million each and were ordered before Sept. 11, 2001. However, their capabilities are very much in tune with national security concerns because, unlike X-rays, gamma rays can read the chemical composition of contents, such as explosives or narcotics.
There are two other VACIS machines in El Paso, one at each cargo facility at the Bridge of the Americas and the Zaragoza Bridge.