Last weekend, Saturday/Sunday, 16/17 March, the emergency services joined Network Rail in an ‘incident scenario’ at Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands to test their emergency response plans.

The test took place in a railway tunnel just outside of Sutton Coldfield station where Network Rail was joined by representatives from West Midlands Fire Service, West Midlands Ambulance Service, British Transport Police, West Midlands Police, and West Midlands Railway.

The exercise began when a locomotive from the Rail Operations Group had been decorated to appear as if it had struck a fallen tree that had brought down overhead electric wires was positioned inside the tunnel.

Night-time made the scenario more realistic

The exercise continued with volunteers posing as train crew and passengers being rescued by the emergency services, emulating a live scenario.

Around 250 people took place in the exercise, which went on through Saturday night and into Sunday; this time was chosen as it was when the railway wasn’t operational and would cause the least disturbance to nearby residents.

By scheduling the exercise at night, the exercise to rescue passengers and train crew was more complex.

The conditions were exacerbated by a demanding environment with a lack of light, confined space underneath the tunnel, no power to the train, and smoke effects to simulate a fire.

There is no limit to the types of real-life exercise that emergency services are called to respond to on the railway, such as a fire on an underground train, or a collision between two trains.

Safety is at the heart of everything we do and this invaluable training exercise was a great success. We hope we never have to respond to emergencies such as this, but it has not only enhanced our emergency planning but allowed us and partners to test our joint response and be prepared if needed

Martin Colmey, operations director for Network Rail Central

West Midlands Fire Service are proud of our response to a multitude of incident types, including the transport network. We aim to get to serious incidents that pose a risk to life or property in just five minutes, and often work with several partner organisations at a scene.

That’s why exercises such as this are invaluable – they allow our crews to hone their skills in a realistic but safe environment. They also provide us with the opportunity to test a Multi-Agency response – from the initial call into our Fire Control, through to Command Officer. We were grateful for the opportunity to be involved.

Paul Kitchen, station commander at West Midlands Fire Service

Overall the exercise was a positive experience for all involved. WMAS committed a significant number of resources which meant we were able to test recent updates to plans and newly implemented triage framework.

It was great to see all partners working well together in a challenging environment ensuring the focus was to save as many lives as possible using a collaborative approach. These exercises are a great opportunity to work alongside colleagues to test and exercise our arrangements if ever the worst was to happen.

James Williams, head of emergency preparedness at West Midlands Ambulance Service

These realistic scenario based training sessions are essential for the personal and professional development of our officers and help us to prepare as a force for major incidents and share joint learning with our industry partners.

Chris Hodgekiss, BTP chief inspector

This exercise and any lessons learnt as a result put ourselves – and partners – in a stronger position to respond to serious incidents in the future so we can help protect the public.

Inspector Scott McGarrigle, from West Midlands Police Operations department

As the operator on the Cross-City Line, it was imperative to work alongside Network Rail and industry partners to carry out emergency rescue training for staff. Keeping the railway safe is our top priority and it is crucial that railway staff are prepared to deal with emergency incidents effectively.

Jamie Ainsworth, health, safety, security & environment director at West Midlands Railway

Safety is at the heart of everything we do at ROG, which is why, when asked, we wanted to work with Network Rail and partners during this exercise.

Jonathan Gavin-Jones, business development manager for Rail Operations Group