Washington rail corridor to include high-tech surveillance
Nov 16, 2006 12:02 PM
Scores of surveillance cameras and sensors will be installed along a key eight-mile rail corridor in Washington D.C., to help protect passenger trains and rail cars carrying hazardous materials.
The National Capital Planning Commission signed off on the $10 million pilot project this month, allowing the Department of Homeland Security to begin installation.
If the project works out, says William Flynn, the DHS director of risk management, it might be replicated in other parts of the country.
The security system will be installed along a rail corridor that runs from the District's boundary with Virginia to its boundary with Maryland, near the Brentwood rail yard, The Washington Post reports. It includes a spur that runs to Union Station, officials said. Freight trains as well as Virginia Railway Express and Amtrak passenger trains will be monitored.
The pilot security project features about 150 surveillance cameras that will provide real-time video feeds of the area around the tracks to law enforcement and rail authorities, officials said. If an intruder is detected, strobe lights will flash and a warning will ring out in several languages.
The system also includes virtual "gates" that would identify trains and scan them for radioactive and toxic materials.
It will take up to a year to install the system.
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