(The BLE’s Pennsylvania State Legislative Board distributed the following news release on December 5.)
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers joined the Pennsylvania State Police, Norfolk Southern Railroad, the short line railroad association, and others to testify this week before the PA House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee on the subject of rail security for the state of Pennsylvania.
Testimony overall indicated significant progress in terms of inter-agency planning, coordination and communication, both within the Commonwealth and between state law enforcement and federal agencies. However, testimony also suggested a lack of security coordination, at least in some critical areas, within the rail industry itself, according to Ken Kertesz, Chairman of PA Legislative Board of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
Captain John Lutz of the PA State Police testified that extensive communication and planning has been undertaken to assure communication with federal agencies, like the FBI, and rapid enforcement response to security threats anywhere in the state.
Lutz said that a state-wide database and communications network linking law enforcement and response agencies is now in place. He said communications equipment, protective clothing and other equipment are provided for first responders to any hazardous material or bio-attack.
Hugh Kiley, Vice President of Operations, Norfolk Southern Railroad Company, testified concerning the extensive research, consultation, planning and coordination undertaken in the 20 states the rail line serves. He said that Norfolk employees are the “eyes and ears of the first line of defense against acts of terror.”
BLE’s Ken Kertesz, speaking for 1,200 Engineers operating trains in the state, said that Pennsylvania’s rail safety record is one of finest in the world.
“Every day, tens of thousands of commuters and millions of tons of commodities move throughout PA without incident. Our safety record stands as the best in the entire Free World. And labor and management working together, as a team, attained this goal.” He said.
Kertesz provided the House Committee with security recommendations from the engineer’s perspective in the areas of on-board security and general rail security. He called on the Legislature to form a Pennsylvania Rail Security Task Force and include members of railroad management and labor to coordinate security procedures and minimize confusion moving forward.
“We have heard testimony from experts in law enforcement and rail operations of major and smaller rail companys,” Kertesz said following the hearing. “Now we have to work to better connect the security dots, so we have a system-wide infrastructure security program that works from the bottom up.”
BLE’s Ken Kertesz told the Committee, “if we are not properly manned, trained and equipped, we’re giving terrorists the exact margin of error they need to strike at our system.”
Kertesz said there are still needlessly conflicting issues in the industry. He used the example of identification cards necessary to positively identify engineers who are authorized to operate trains in Pennsylvania.
Currently there is no state-wide, or even industy-wide system to positively identify engineers who are authorized to operate tains in Pennylvania.
“I have a cardboard ID that doesn’t identify me beyond a name and number,” he testified. “Anybody can easily forge this ID, or simply steal it from me and use it as their own.”
Norfolk Southern spokesmen testifed that it has instituted photo ID cards for most of its employees which identifies the individual as an employee, and is coded to permit access to corporate building. But the card doesn’t identify an employee as an engineer authorized by that company to operate its trains, and there is no coded access to the rail yard or car.
“Most engines don’t have door locks, so it’s actually easier to get a false ID and gain access into a locomotive engine, than it is to enter a corporate office buildings,” Kertesz said. “I do not work for Norfolk Southern, nor do the majority of my members. So we do not have a secure, positive identification.”
We do not even have gas masks or protective clothing to protect us from hazardous materials or cell phones to dial 911 on board our trains right now. This may seem like a small item to folks when they’re talking about millions of dollars to conduct rail security studies,” Kertesz said.
“But by the time police and fire respond to a hazardous rail incident, the engineer and conductor will be dead.”
Kertesz said that while he feels security plans are moving forward from the top down, it may be time to start looking at rail security from the bottom up.
“Our engineers and conductors are the first line of defense in rail security. If we are not properly manned, trained and equipped, we’re giving terrorists the exact margin of error they need to strike at our system.”
Kertesz reiterated the outstanding safety record of the Pennsylvania rail system and thanked the Chairman Semmell and the House Committee for its oversight and direction. He asked for a Pennsylvania Rail Security Task Force, made up of both labor and management, to assure the coordination of security procedures as they put into operation throughout the system.