A joint disaster management and recovery exercise was conducted at the Ernakulam marshalling yard on Friday, jointly by Southern Railway and National Disaster Response Force’s Arakkonam battalion. The drill scenario was “Fire in railway coach due to inflammable materials”. A condemned second-class sleeper coach was used for the mock drill. At 8 a.m., a telephone message was received at the Traffic Control Office, Thiruvananthapuram, that a passenger coach had derailed and caught fire at the Ernakulam marshalling yard.
Control office personnel relayed the message to the police, Fire and Rescue and Railway Disaster Management teams comprising medical, mechanical, electrical, traction distribution, operations, engineering, signal and telecommunications departments. They led the “rescue operations”.
Four fire tenders brought the fire under control. Sophisticated pieces of equipment were used for breaking open the window and coach body for performing an evacuation drill.
St. John Ambulance Brigade too participated in the drill. The objective of the exercise was to strengthen the disaster response mechanism. This exercise helped to assess the disaster response and frame coordinated procedures for rescue operations during railway accidents, sources said.
