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With a $544,000 Federal Railroad Administration grant in hand, Norfolk Southern Railway is expanding the testing and implementation of RailView, a locomotive-mounted camera designed to record all activity occurring in front of a train. NS will equip 1,100 locomotives with the system by year end, then equip another 500 units in 2005, according to the railroad's November newsletter.

In 1995, NS and Science Applications International Corp. began developing a system designed to determine the root cause of grade crossing incidents by recording crossing activity, train speed and whistle operation.

"The train system contains data boxes that establish train speed, whether the horn works or was blown, or if something is obstructing the path of the locomotive," said Electrical Engineer Adam Mastrangelo, who helped develop RailView. "This will allow us to demonstrate the effectiveness of safety measures already in place, assess behavior and give us the opportunity to make changes where they are needed most."