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Washington, D.C. – Congressman Pete Visclosky (D-Merrillville) has announced an $800,000 Homeland Security grant for the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD). The funding, announced today as part of a $50 million grants package for Homeland Security, will be used to help mass transit agencies like NICTD enhance the security of their passengers and assets.
The South Shore was the only Indiana railroad to receive funding under the $50 million metro rail allocation.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, today’s funding for metropolitan rail transit authorities will allow mass transit agencies to install physical barricades, video surveillance, motion detectors, thermal imagery devices, chemical/radiological detection systems, and integrated communications systems, as well as implementing terrorism prevention planning, training, and exercises. Agencies qualified for funding based on their number of annual riders and total track mileage.
“You never know where terrorists may strike, so it is very important for all of us to be as fully prepared as possible,” Visclosky said. “Terrorists have shown too many times that they will attack innocent people anywhere, anytime. This funding will help increase the safety of the thousands of Northwest Indiana residents who ride the South Shore every day for work and pleasure.”
The South Shore’s annual ridership has doubled since 1975, when it was 1.8 million. In 2002, approximately 3.6 million riders took the South Shore, an average of nearly 10,000 riders a day.
“With thousands of riders every day, a terrorist attack on this transit line would be a catastrophe, so we must do everything we can to prevent it,” Visclosky said. “I will continue to get all the funding I can for Homeland Security projects in Northwest Indiana.” |
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