News

NEW YORK, NY July 12, 2005 —Facing continued questions over its security spending transit officials showed off some new devices being implemented that can sense a biological or chemical attack.

REPORTER: The detectors are located inside Grand Central Terminal and they resemble ventilation units or other mysterious pieces of infrastrucure. There's a portable lab on a Metro North platform which is capable of finding a biological agent within 2 and a half hours of an attack.

The MTA's Deputy Police Chief, Ron Masciana, says there's also a chemical detector in a box that's connected to a camera.

MASCIANA: If you take a look up on the ceiling you see a dome. That dome is intelligent video that works with the chemical detection system, so if it activates both activate at the same time.

REPORTER: These detectors, however, were NOT paid for with the 600 million dollars in security funding the MTA received after 9-11 but has yet to completely spend. Officials say they needed time to develop new systems and they expect about a quarter of the funds will be awarded by the fall.