New railway emergency training hub opens in West Midlands

A new training centre has opened in Birmingham to help prepare transport providers and the emergency services for major incidents that may occur on our railways.

Network Rail has created 'The Birmingham Rail Resilience Hub at a facility' in Aston, which it says will put the West Midlands at the forefront of emergency planning.

The hub works as a "true-to-life training ground," simulating scenarios that involve tracks, trains, level crossings and other equipment and hazards found on the railway.

Network Rail's Central route director Denise Wetton who opened the hub alongside Central route's operations director Martin Colmey said: "This hub creates a safe, realistic environment which allows the railway, emergency services and industry partners to learn and work together so we are ready to deal with situations in real life."

The Birmingham Rail Resilience Hub has been created by Network Rail's Central route and hosted its first emergency exercise to demonstrate the types of scenarios and learnings that can take place there.

According to Network Rail the exercise demonstrated how the rail industry and emergency services would respond to vehicles being struck by a train on a level crossing.

Organisations involved in the training were shown how the area would be assessed and made safe with passengers on board before trapped and injured people were rescued.

It also demonstrated how an investigation would take place into what happened ahead of reopening the railway.

James Williams, WMAS Head of Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response, said: "This new training facility is a really useful resource that will allow our crews to realistically prepare for significant incidents on the region's railways.

"It was great to be involved in the opening last week where we got to see first-hand the benefits the facility will bring to emergency response in the West Midlands."

Network rail also announced the facility will also be a secure storage area for essential and specialist items needed to make repairs and keep the railway running safely and on time.