(The BLE’s Pennsylvania State Legislative Board issued the following news release on October 8.)
CAMP HILL, Pa. — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers are visiting the Capitol in Harrisburg today to meet with House Members and discuss growing concerns about safety and security throughout Pennsylvania’s 9,000 miles of unsecured rail.
The U.S. Intelligence Community has assessed that Al Qaeda will attempt a variety of terror strategies, including destroying key rail bridges and sections of track to cause derailments or targeting hazardous material containers and the traveling public.
Recently captured Al Qaeda photographs of U.S. railroad engines, cars, and crossings have heighten the intelligence community’s concern for this threat.
The problem of guarding Pennsylvania’s rail lines is daunting and the job of protecting the railroad system falls not to state law enforcement but to rail employees, particularly those on the line, like Engineers and onboard staff who haul hazardous substances and the traveling public daily.
“We move the state’s cargo, hazardous materials, and the traveling public every day and our Engineers are the first to feel the pressure and stress of potential terrorism and rail safety,” Ken Kertesz, Chairman of PA Legislative Board of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, said in Harrisburg today.
“At every bridge, every crossing, every mountain pass in this commonwealth our members have to be ready and alert for the crack of a rifle shot, or a hand-launched rocket, or car bomb.”
Kertesz is leading a contingent of four teams of BLE representatives from around the state to call on various legislators today and tomorrow to review the security situation statewide, and propose simple safety and security measures to help increase rail security.
The visiting teams represent the major Class I freight railroads such as CSX, Norfolk Southern, Canadian Pacific as well as Amtrak. Team I represents Pittsburgh, Team II represents Philadelphia, Team III represents the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton area, and Team IV represents Central PA.
“We feel greater cooperation between government and unions is fundamental to insuring safety and security for the traveling public across Pennsylvania,” Kertesz added. “Union members are the first and last line of defense against unsafe and threatening acts in the state today. Whether locomotive engineers, fire, or police, it will most likely be a union member who is the first responder to defend the homeland from acts of terror.”
Founded in 1863, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers is the oldest railway labor union in the western hemisphere. For more information regarding this news release, please contact Karen Gross at 717.975.2148 or kgross@hersheyphilbin.com. For more information regarding the PA State Legislative Board of the BLE, please visit www.pslb-ble.org.