(The following Associated Press article by Joe Ruff appeared in the Grand Island Independent.)
OMAHA — Employees of the nation’s largest railroad often start their day with warnings to be vigilant as Union Pacific Railroad guards against any terrorist attacks.
“We remind them on daily work orders if they are on a train crew to be alert for trespassers or anything suspicious,” spokesman John Bromley said Friday.
The Omaha-based railroad has an internal Internet news service that updates employees with latest developments, including warnings to be alert.
“In conjunction with U.S. military action in Iraq, Union Pacific’s top safety managers request extra vigilance from employees on UP property and trains,” one message recently read.
At the railroad, monitoring and surveillance of certain trains was increased as the United States opened the war against Iraq. It also increased security at key railyards and priority tracks, tunnels and bridges.
For security reasons, Bromley declined to be more specific about which trains, tunnels, railyards and bridges were receiving extra attention. The railroad’s largest railyard is located in North Platte.
Measures taken Wednesday night were in addition to steps taken since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that included restricting access to information on railcar locations, spot-checking employee identification, and increasing the surveillance of trains carrying hazardous materials, Bromley said.
The Association of American Railroads has a security center operating around the clock that includes people with government security clearances scanning intelligence reports for anything that might affect the railroads, Bromley said.
Union Pacific and other railroad companies have people with similar security clearances doing much the same thing, Bromley said.
“We’ve never had any intelligence on a specific threat” against the railroads, Bromley said.
Union Pacific has four levels of alert, and it has been at about 2 1/2 for some time, Bromley said.
The railroad carries cargo through 23 states across the western two-thirds of the country.
Bromley said the few concentrations of workers, sprawling tracks and an ability to quickly repair them might make railroads an unlikely target for terrorists seeking to hurt the United States economically or psychologically.
“It’s not going to buy them much,” Bromley said.
The railroad often deals with derailments, avalanches in the mountains, floods and fire, Bromley said. It has segments of track stationed across the country that can be quickly laid once debris from a wreck or other problem is cleared, often in a matter of days if not hours.
Still, openness of the railroad presents a problem with vandalism, trespassers and theft. Reports of trespassing have gone up significantly since the railroad began asking employees to raise their level of awareness because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“We don’t take for granted that the guy along the track is a transient or a railroad buff. We go out and find out,” Bromley said.
“Running a railroad is like a factory without walls or a ceiling,” Bromley said. “It is an ongoing problem.”