Metro News Release

For immediate release: July 16, 2004

Metro’s response training facility tunnel wins national management innovation award

Metro’s Emergency Response Training Tunnel Facility in Landover, MD--the only transit facility in the nation used 24 hours per day, seven days per week for training of emergency personnel to respond to disasters such as smoke/fire/collisions and potential weapons of mass destruction incidents in a transit/tunnel environment--was awarded the American Public Transportation Association’s Management Innovation Award for 2004. " Other transit systems have facilities that train firefighters, but our facility, with its simulated tunnel environment, is a full-service training facility that is used by local, regional and federal fire, rescue, law enforcement and emergency medical teams year-round," said Metro CEO Richard A. White. " The training facility enables regional first responders to practice transit emergency response techniques and procedures around the clock, as opposed to limiting drills to " after hours" or weekends. We are pleased that it has been singled out by APTA for this recognition." The opening of the training facility in May 2002 focused regional attention on 21st century emergency preparedness coordination issues, and challenged regional leaders to recognize the consequences faced by first responders unfamiliar to the unique challenges that are present when dealing with a catastrophic incident in a subway tunnel or station. The devastating attacks in Moscow and Madrid, coupled with the prominence and international importance of Washington, DC, further highlight Metro’s vulnerability as a potential target of terror attacks. To date, more than 2,600 public safety and military personnel from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia have trained at the facility, as have hundreds of personnel from U.S. government agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office Joint Terrorism Task Force, the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Federal Protective Service, the Pentagon Force Protective Agency, the Marine Chemical Biological Incident Response Force and Walter Reed Army Hospital Fire Department. The training tunnel is 260 feet long and 30 feet wide, and houses two 75-foot rapid transit cars. The tunnel provides a safe, controlled environment, without any electrical or train-movement hazards. The training facility, available at all times to emergency responders, allows for training of all shifts for extended time periods. Before the existence of this tunnel, training and exercises had to be conducted during non-revenue hours in the middle of the night or in rail storage yards. The training tunnel is a replica of an actual Metrorail tunnel with a simulated third rail, safety walk, track, switches, communications, power cables and tunnel lighting. For realism, exercise scenarios can be augmented with theatrical smoke, fire and heat. Adjacent to the tunnel is a command and control room, where all tunnel activities can be monitored by six closed-circuit television cameras. In addition, the tunnel wall phones are hard-wired directly to the command and control room, enabling controllers to participate in the exercise. There is also a 20-seat classroom with audio-visual capabilities for lecture and debriefing adjacent to the tunnel. The training tunnel is supported by a staff of three full-time emergency management officers and one part-time emergency management officer. Other members of WMATA’s System Safety and Risk Protection staff are made available as necessary. In addition to the physical capabilities of the facility, the staff is available to outside agencies to develop courses, drills and exercise scenarios. " Thus far, more than 200 scenarios have been developed for agencies using the facilities, including many that go far beyond fire scenarios familiar in training at other transit agencies," said Fred Goodine, Metro’s Assistant General Manager of System Safety and Risk Protection. " Incidents simulate not only smoke and fires, but also bomb blasts, terrorist response and hostage rescues, release of chemical or biological agents, train collisions, and people struck by trains." " You can explain disasters such as the Madrid and Moscow bombings to the local responders, but it is not until they experience a disaster as replicated in our training facility does it all come together," said Chuck Novick, Metro’s Emergency Management Coordinator and Fire Life Safety Liaison Officer who schedules emergency responder training for the tunnel. " This is a valuable tool in the training process and the interest and participation shown by police and fire rescue personnel in this region demonstrates their commitment to being as prepared as they can be." The courses developed and conducted at the training facility include Emergency Response; Passenger Rail Familiarization Training; Incident Command System Training; Unified Command System Training; Joint Supervisory Training; Passenger Rail Hostage/Rescue Training; Hazardous Material Operations; Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation/Automated Electronic Defibrillation; Explosive Ordinance Detection; Weapons of Mass Destruction; and a host of others. " Discussions are underway with interested federal agencies to make the facility even more innovative by establishing it as a national training center for emergency responders from across the United States," Mr. Goodine said. " Part of the expansion would allow the facility to simulate not only Metro rail cars, but also light rail, Amtrak, and freight cars as well as buses. Clearly, this innovative facility will continue to contribute to the expertise of emergency responders in the Washington, DC, region. In addition, it will increasingly add to knowledge about emergency response throughout the transportation industry." Metro officials are also working with the Federal Transit Administration to develop the Emergency Rail Training Facility into a national training center for transit agencies. " We are working with the Response to Emergencies and Disaster Institute of the George Washington University School of Medicine to begin hosting a series of emergency preparedness and response courses as well," Mr. Goodine said. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Safety Institute recently used the tunnel to conduct a disaster exercise as part of its Effectively Managing Transit Emergencies Course and its Weapons of Mass Destruction Course. APTA’s Management Innovation ward will be formally presented to Mr. White and Mr. Goodine at the association’s annual meeting in October in Atlanta, GA.

News release issued on July 16, 2004.