from staff
CSX Transportation (CSXT) today announced it has entered into a rail security partnership with the state of Kentucky that represents a model CSXT hopes to use with other states on its system.
CSX Transportation Inc. is a principal operating company of CSX Corporation.
The partnership formalizes and enhances CSXT’s ongoing commitment to Kentucky to share information, resources, and strategies in order to better protect the communities in which CSXT operates. In July, CSXT formally announced a similar partnership with the states of New Jersey and New York.
“We’re pleased to be the first railroad and the first private industry to formalize a security partnership with the Kentucky Intelligence Fusion Center in order to jointly safeguard both the communities we serve, and our ability to move the goods so critical to the economy,” said Skip Elliott, CSXT Vice President of Public Safety and the Environment.
The partnership provides Kentucky security officials with access to CSXT’s Network Operations Workstation (NOW) System. This secure online system, developed and used by CSXT, allows Kentucky security and law enforcement officials to independently track the location of CSXT trains and the contents of rail cars being hauled by CSXT in each state in a nearly real-time environment.
“This new partnership is a model for how information sharing should occur between industry and government,” said Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher. “Every major homeland security report issued since 9/11 has emphasized the need for information sharing to occur at all levels of government and with the private sector. This initiative addresses the rail industry.”
CSX Corporation, based in Jacksonville, is one of the leading transportation companies, providing rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload services.