In cooperation with Amtrak, the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) developed and an began delivering a 40-hour passenger-rail rescue course in December 2011. The course is designed to provide emergency responders with the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform specialized search-and-rescue operations at a passenger train or commuter train disaster. The course is taught in conjunction with instructors from Amtrak Emergency Response and participants have the opportunity to conduct significant hands-on skill scenarios in the Transportation Disaster Training Area located at Disaster City and Brayton Fire Training Field in College Station, Texas. In addition to hands-on training at the TDTA, the participants read and discuss case studies of previous passenger-rail incidents to gain a better understanding of the challenges that responders have faced at such incidents. The course concludes with a realistic 5-hour nighttime exercise involving all seven passenger cars and large numbers of volunteer “victims” from the local community.
