The “Tory 2016” tactical and combat exercises will take place in Legnica from March 15 to 17. Regional emergency services will participate in them, conducting a simulated rescue operation on a railway siding. For this purpose, PKP CARGO will provide a locomotive to pull a rescue train. The main goal of this initiative is to improve cooperation between fire protection units and railway services in the event of accidents and technical failures on railway lines.
– As the largest freight operator in Poland and the second largest in the European Union, PKP CARGO attaches great importance to railway traffic safety. I am glad that we can join the Legnica exercises, thereby helping emergency services learn about the specifics of railway traffic – says Przemysław Baumgart, Director of the Lower Silesian Division of PKP CARGO.
The planned exercises are divided into two parts: a discussion of substantive issues regarding railway safety and a simulated rescue operation. The latter will be carried out on Thursday, March 17, on an unused railway siding in Legnica. For the purposes of the exercises, experts will arrange a collision between a passenger train and a freight wagon. It will be a tanker transporting sulfuric acid.
As part of the operation, a PKP CARGO representative will also present to the emergency services the details of the construction and equipment of locomotives and wagons most commonly used in freight traffic. Knowledge of rolling stock by the services increases the effectiveness of rescue operations.
The main goal of the exercises is to improve communication during rescue operations involving a large number of forces and resources. In addition to PKP CARGO, several entities are involved in organizing the exercises: the Pol-Miedź Trans company will provide a railway tanker with sulfuric acid transport markings, the network operator PKP PLK will secure a special rescue train, and PKP Intercity will provide a passenger carriage.
In the interest of railway traffic safety, PKP CARGO is successively implementing new solutions. These primarily cover two areas: professional preparation and training of employees, and the development of IT systems supporting the management of the transport process. The company is also developing the EKL (Electronic Logistics Book) IT system, introducing new functionalities based on modern IT solutions and GPS technology.