RICHMOND - Mass transit and passenger rail facilities in Virginia are at “code orange (high),” as a result of explosions that hit the London subway and a double-decker bus during morning rush hour today.

“Code orange means that increased surveillance is taking place, more police are in the trains and monitoring the rail facilities, signal and communication systems are double-checked and there is more supervision of visitors,” said Steven M. Mondul, director of security and emergency management for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).

The decision to raise the security alert level to orange comes from the Department of Homeland Security and the Governor.

Code orange does not apply to highways. VDOT is ready to go to a high security level with highways, bridges and tunnels if that becomes necessary. Even though highways remain at code yellow (elevated), VDOT has increased security and surveillance on highways, bridges and tunnels including electronic and manual surveillance.

VDOT and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation work in full coordination with local, state and federal agencies as well as the military on sound emergency plans and exercises to provide for safe travel as possible on Virginia’s transportation system.

Page last modified: July 7, 2005