NEW YORK — Norfolk Southern and RapidSOS, which provides secure data information to first responders, have unveiled a rail safety system to increase availability of critical information at significant incidents.
The collaborative effort announced today will be free to public safety agencies across the U.S. It will provide access to cargo and hazardous material information, enable mutual-aid requests, and provide ongoing training. Building on similar programs already available, it better integrates first responders and how they work and communicate.
“Norfolk Southern is committed to being an industry leader in safety,” John Fleps, Norfolk Southern vice president of safety, said in a press release. “When a rail incident occurs, seconds count. Through our partnership with RapidSOS, 911 call centers and first responder agencies throughout our 22-state network will have faster access to the information they need to safeguard their response, save lives, and protect the communities in which we operate.”
In the event of an incident, NS will initiate a digital emergency alert through RapidSOS. This will digitally transmit information including the location of the incident and what the train is carrying to first responders. The data will highlight any hazardous material the train may be carrying at the top of the message, provide safe handling and emergency response guides for those materials, and can be easily shared by text or email from 911 centers to field responders and mutual-aid partners.
“Prior to this partnership, telecommunicators had to manually search online databases and verbally relay critical information to field responders during rail incidents,” said Brian Fontes, CEO of the National Emergency Number Association. “9-1-1 needs innovative solutions like this that share life-saving information digitally, quickly, and intuitively.”
Karin Marquez, chief public safety brand officer at Rapid SOS, said the partnership with Norfolk Southern “will provide first responder agencies with contextual data and information to respond in the rare event of a train emergency. We are thrilled to work with Norfolk Southern to support our heroes in public safety to keep communities prepared and safe.”
More information is available at the RapidSOS website.
“hazardous materials the train may be carrying”? Is carrying and whether it empty or full is the information that is needed. The “may” ought only apply if the car was set out as a bad order.