CSX to share data with Kentucky fusion center

CSX Transportation Inc. will share information with the Kentucky Intelligence Fusion Center, allowing the center to perform near real-time independent tracking of rail cars and their contents within the state. State officials will have access to CSX's secure online systems.

The rail company already has similar agreements with state fusion centers run by law enforcement officials in New Jersey and New York. It announced the Kentucky partnership today.

CSX Transportation is the chief operating entity of CSX Corp. based in Jacksonville, Fla., which provides freight rail service to 23 states in the eastern United States. In addition to sharing information, CSX intends to work with law enforcement officials in each state on training and preparedness and will provide state officials access to CSX security professionals, according to Skip Elliott, CSX vice president of public safety and the environment.

"This new partnership is a model for how information sharing should occur between industry and government," Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher said in a news release. "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."

More than 40 states have set up intelligence fusion centers to collaborate with FBI and other federal and local officials on collecting and analyzing intelligence to fight terrorism and crime. Typically, officials from emergency response, medical, cyber and other disciplines collaborate in the centers.

In June, Boeing Co. officials announced they were one of the first private corporations to assign a full-time staff person to the fusion center in Seattle, Wash.