FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – From a hub within a glitzy building downtown, Kentucky authorities can now pinpoint in real-time exactly what lethal substances are traveling through the state by rail and where.

The technology is part of a public-private pilot project that CSX Transportation is trying out in three states, including New York and New Jersey, to try to streamline information and get it into the right hands during an emergency.

Officials sitting in a large operations room in Frankfort can track any trains on the CSX system, what they’re carrying, where they are and where they’re going.

Kentucky Homeland Security Director Alecia Webb-Edgington said in emergency situations – such as hazardous chemical spills – getting swifter access to such information helps authorities on the ground.

“We’ll know exactly what’s involved,” Ms. Webb-Edgington said.

Earlier this year a CSX train derailed just south of Louisville in Bullitt County, igniting massive fires in the area that burned for days. More than a dozen families were forced out of their homes for a month or more after the derailment.

Ms. Webb-Edgington said the system would help response teams if similar accidents happened in the future.