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Railroad Company Plans D.C. Security Improvements, Seeks Quick Resolution of Court Case By Joe Fiorill WASHINGTON — Railroad company CSX will soon begin new security-related construction on the District of Columbia’s rails, CSX Vice President for Public Safety and Environment Skip Elliott said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 15, 2005). The company is hoping for a speedy resolution to its court case challenging the city’s ban on shipments of certain toxic-materials, Elliott said at a rail-security conference hosted here by Railway Age magazine. “We hope that that decision will be made rather soon,” Elliott said. “Unfortunately, we hear some talk in the hallways indicating that that litigation may still be in progress a year from now.” Despite the “unresolved rerouting question,” Elliott said, the company is taking steps to improve security, including greater railway-police presence on the rails, counterterrorism training for personnel, stronger tank-car materials, and computer systems for tracking the locations of hazardous-materials shipments. Construction is to begin in June in Washington on new security infrastructure, including WMD detection equipment. City officials have said tank cars full of materials such as chlorine would amount to rolling chemical weapons if targeted by terrorists — a possibility officials and activists say al-Qaeda members have contemplated. The city’s ban, which seeks to force CSX to reroute the shipments away from Washington, is on hold while CSX and the federal government challenge it in court. CSX has said it is in the meantime refraining from bringing at least some of the shipments through the city. Like Elliott, Federal Railroad Administration acting Administrator for Safety Jo Strang yesterday used her presentation at the conference to highlight new security measures planned or in progress on the nation’s railways. Strang mentioned research on biometric identification checks for rail personnel, new protective coatings to help protect tank cars against accidents or attacks, and new risk analyses of various kinds of shipments. The Transportation and Homeland Security departments, Strang said, are also “working through” new regulations on routing of trains that would “clarify and enhance” the existing rules. As quoted in this month’s Railway Age, Elliott did not appear to rule out the possibility for rerouting to be part of a long-term solution to the conflict. The D.C. case, he told the magazine, “will ultimately drive change in shipments of high-hazmat products involving rerouting or additional tracking capability or technology.” “I don’t know the answer,” he said. “We need clarification from the court as to who is responsible for rerouting from the legal aspect and what dialogue needs to take place among carriers, chemical manufacturers, shippers and the government to ensure it’s transported in a safe manner.” Delays continue to slow the court challenge. Under a Dec. 14 order by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, today was to have been the deadline for Homeland Security and Transportation to submit to city lawyers a set of documents that city officials say should include the government’s secret rail-security plan for the District. The deadline has been extended to Feb. 17, D.C. Attorney General’s Office spokeswoman Traci Hughes said yesterday.
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