U.S. Freight Rail Heightens Security Readiness, Portugal Joins CSI

In addition to measures already in place, railroads reacted by deploying more police and K-9 units to sensitive areas while promoting greater vigilance along the freight rail network.

As the Association of American Railroads notes, measures already in place include a round the clock operations center that links the railroads with national security intelligence officials; improved monitoring of designated trains, including those carrying hazardous materials; security enhancements to computers and software, including new encryption technology for selected data communications; and tightened supply chain logistics in cooperation with certain customers.

On other global security issues, Portugal has joined in the Container Security Initiative (CSI), a program that calls for the screening and targeting of containers before they leave port destined for the U.S.

^st EU port to join, with a total of 37 CSI ports in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and North America.