FORT
WORTH, TEXAS—BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) is recruiting
railfans to help keep BNSF properties safe by reporting suspicious activities
and to help prevent possible security breaches.
"Keeping
America's rail transportation network safe from crime and terrorist
activity is a high priority for the railroad industry," says William
Heileman, BNSF general director, Police and Protection Solutions. "Every
day across the country, railfans photograph and watch trains as they
pass through communities. It seems natural to harness their interest
to help keep America's rail system safe."
Railfans
can register for the program by going to the Citizens
United for Rail Security (CRS) Website. CRS participants will receive
an official identification card along with access to news and information
on the BNSF CRS Web site.
To
report suspicious activity, CRS members and the public can call (800)
832-5452. The information will be taken by a BNSF representative and
routed for appropriate response.
"Supporting
homeland security in this manner is positive for everyone," says
Carl Ice, BNSF's executive vice president and chief operations officer.
"It supports the nation's security efforts, improves safety within
our company and the community, and improves operations by helping to
remove the impact of criminal acts and accidents."
The
CRS program is an outgrowth of another BNSF grassroots program, called
BNSF ON GUARD, which encourages employees to report suspicious activities,
trespassers or individuals to BNSF's Resource Operations Call Center
(ROCC). The BNSF ON GUARD program, which started in 2003, has been successful,
with more than 200 employees reporting suspicious activities since its
inception. Employees have reported theft, vandalism, arson, attempted
suicide, and other criminal violations, threats to safety, or unusual
events on or near railway properties.
"Security
is everyone's business. Because of heightened security status, Americans
are being asked to be the 'eyes and ears' for law enforcement,"
says John Clark, BNSF assistant vice president, Resource Protection
Solutions Team. "At BNSF, our police team continues to educate
employees on work, personal and home security, as well as working to
change employee behavior to increase awareness of security risks."
A
subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE:BNI), BNSF
Railway Company operates one of the largest railroad networks in North
America, with about 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian
provinces. BNSF is among the world's top transporters of intermodal
traffic, moves more grain than any other American railroad, transports
the components of many of the products we depend on daily, and hauls
enough low-sulphur coal to generate about ten percent of the electricity
produced in the United States. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling
a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com.
—
source: BNSF Railway