BENGALURU: To ensure that railway staffers across the country are prepared and trained adequately to tackle major emergencies and accidents, the Indian Railway Institute of Disaster Management at Hejjala in Ramanagara on Thursday simulated two train accidents -- derailment of six coaches and two coaches on fire. The institute also arranged for 70 dummy bodies too.
Speaking to TNIE, Joint Director of the Institute, Jayant Ramachandran said, “This is the first major mock drill undertaken by the institute involving around 400 people. We simulated the derailment of six coaches between 10am and noon. In another situation, a train was ablaze for an hour after that.”
A total of 170 staffers from Railways, 50 from the NDRF and 150 from the SDRF, homeguards and Civil Defence personnel took part, who were assisted by 15 medical staffers from the Railway Hospital in Bengaluru.
The mock drill began at 10 am. “The Railway staffers were split into three groups called Cheetahs, Jaguars and Panthers. They had to take responsibility of two coaches each along with other rescue units. Using various tools, they had to rescue the passengers or carry the dummy bodies to the first-aid centre,” Ramachandran said.
“Within two hours, they rescued over 100 passengers,” he added. Two coaches were set ablaze in the afternoon and the Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services doused them quickly, he said. These activities are part of the ongoing week-long Advanced Disaster Management Course.