Rail Drill Prepares First Responders for Disaster: Opinion

(TNS) — Though a catastrophe involving a derailed commuter train and injured passengers in South Lowell on Sunday morning was fiction, the experience gained could turn out to be the difference between life and death, should the unthinkable actually occur.

Indeed, for participating public-safety personnel, this simulated exercise offered the type of hands-on training that can only be surpassed by an actual disaster.

At least that’s the hope of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which partnered with emergency agencies from throughout the region to conduct this training drill, carried out on a section of track near Moore Street.

For purposes of this exercise, a commuter train carrying four passenger cars sat on the offline track.

Directly in front of the train, a disabled pickup truck provided the accident waiting to happen.

Before the drill began, Michael McCabe, acting director of security and emergency management with the MassDOT, laid out the scenario, which had a commuter train making contact with the truck at a crossing, causing the train to derail.

McCabe said several passengers — mostly volunteers from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy — portrayed people with various injuries, necessitating evacuations by emergency crews.

To ensure the exercise mirrored actual conditions, an array of agencies participated in the drill.

In addition to MBTA Railroad Operations and Transit Police, they included Keolis Commuter Services, CSX Transportation, Lowell Police Department, Trinity Ambulance, Lowell General Hospital, UMass Lowell, and the Lowell, Dracut, Tyngsboro and Littleton fire departments.

“It’s cross-organizational, so there’s mutual aid,” McCabe explained. “… There are several briefings they all attend. They go through the process, go through the procedures, and then they try it out in real time.”

During the simulation, a conductor walked through the train cars, checking on the passengers, asking if anyone was hurt.

Within moments, Lowell fire trucks and ambulances arrived on scene.

The emergency crews rushed into action, establishing and executing a plan to remove those on board. Some passengers could be walked out of the train cars, while others were carried out on backboards.

Alex Cachecho, who served as a logistics coordinator during the drill, explained the passengers are briefed on what injuries to act out and what to say to emergency responders.

“It’s all adds to the experience for the (emergency crews),” Cachecho said.

The drill ended about an hour after it began, with the passengers placed in a triage area, grouped by the varying levels of injuries, from the least critical to life-threatening.

At the conclusion of the training exercise, McCabe said all the agencies involved will study the simulation to determine its effectiveness, and make any adjustments for future drills.

For the most part, the MBTA’s commuter rail component has been spared the accidents and breakdowns that have vexed the T’s subway and trolley system.

But derailments, though rare, do occur.

In June, a commuter train went off the tracks near Beverly’s station, in what the MBTA called “a low-speed upright derailment.”

No injuries were reported, and buses took up the temporary slack until rail line got back on track.

But tragedies do occur.

Just before 6 p.m. on Jan. 21, Roberta “Robbi” Sausville Devine was driving across the Middlesex Avenue Railroad crossing in Wilmington when her car was hit by a train, killing her instantly.

Due to human error, the crossing’s gates didn’t close. Located in a quiet zone, no whistle blew warning her of an approaching train.

That fatal crash demonstrated that no matter how well prepared, flaws in the safety system — since corrected in this case — can circumvent the best-laid rescue procedures put in place and meticulously reviewed.

But it’s still reassuring to know that a coordinated effort backed by a host of specifically trained emergency responders is on call for crisis situations like the one rehearsed on Sunday.

©2022 Sentinel & Enterprise, Fitchburg, Mass. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.