D.C. Will Put Security Cameras on Freight Rail Tracks

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fficials plan to install hundreds of surveillance cameras and sensors to detect intruders along a freight rail line that runs through Washington, D.C., the Washington Post reported Saturday.

The $9.8 million pilot project, funded by the Department of Homeland Security, is the most detailed information to surface about plans to secure the rail line, the Post said.

Earlier this year, District leaders tried to ban hazardous shipments on the line because of fears of a terrorist attack, but those efforts, opposed by freight rail line CSX Transportation, have been struck down by court rulings. (Click here for previous coverage.)

The project was announced by the two private companies that were awarded the contract, the Post said. The plan was devised as a result of vulnerability studies conducted by federal safety officials on 42 miles of freight track stretching from Lorton, Va., to Silver Spring, Md., according to DHS

The security system will be installed on the 7-mile stretch of CSX track that runs between Reagan National Airport and the Benning Road rail yard in Northeast D.C., according to the companies involved in the work.

The Post reported the system will include more than 300 cameras, including ones able to detect movement. Authorized trains, vehicles and personnel will be given radio frequency identification cards that will identify them as “friendlies” to the cameras and sensors.

If a vehicle or individual not recognized by the system approaches the buffer zone, an alarm will sound and an alert will be sent to a District command center, according to DHS.

The rail line also will be equipped with virtual "gates" where trains will be scanned by nuclear, biological and chemical sensors before being allowed to continue into the city, officials said.