(The following appeared on the Progressive Railroading website on May 28, 2010.)
Yesterday, CSX Transportation announced it entered into a rail security partnership with the state of Florida.
Called “SecureNOW,” the partnership “formalizes and enhances [our] ongoing commitment to Florida to share information, resources, and strategies to better protect communities in which the company operates,” CSXT officials said in a prepared statement. SecureNow is a partnership model CSXT hopes to employ in other states, they said. During the past few years, the Class I established rail security partnerships with Kentucky, New Jersey and New York.
SecureNOW will become another resource in the Florida Fusion Center in Tallahassee, where federal, state and local agencies jointly evaluate and act upon potential security threats. The fusion center aims to further enhance law enforcement and homeland security efforts.
“We’re pleased to be the first railroad and private corporation to formalize a security partnership with the Florida Fusion Center,” said Skip Elliott, CSXT’s vice president of public safety and environment.
The SecureNOW partnership provides Florida security officials with access to CSXT’s network operations workstation system, which enables security and law enforcement officials to independently track the location of CSXT trains and rail-car contents in close to real time.
Meanwhile, CSX Corp. announced it’s rescheduling an investor conference from Sept. 21-22, 2010, in Atlanta to May 2011 in Ohio so attendees can tour the new Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal that’s scheduled to open in North Baltimore in early 2011. The terminal is part of CSX’s National Gateway intermodal corridor initiative.