PA Chiefs_Bulletin Winter_2016

19 / 32

PA CHIEFS OF POLICE ASSOCIATION | BULLETIN | WINTER 2016 | 19
Railroads couple these training opportunities with re-
sponse planning. By participating in state emergency
planning committees and working with communities to
develop their own emergency response plans, freight rail-
roads are working to close the knowledge gap about how
they operate and how communities can prepare.
Key to this preparation is giving emergency responders
the information they will need to respond to incidents—
that’s where innovations like AskRail come in. Likewise,
railroads will provide designated personnel with com-
modity flow information upon request.
ADDITIONAL LOCAL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Of course, safety trains and SERTC are just two of the
ways that railroads approach training. Locally, CSX, NS
and their short line railroad partners provide free training
using railroad and TRANSCAER® resources. Founded
in 1986, TRANSCAER (Transportation Community
Awareness and Emergency Response) is a voluntary na-
tional outreach effort that focuses on assisting communi-
ties in preparing for and responding to a possible hazard-
ous material transportation incident.
So far this year, TRANSCAER has partnered with NS
in Pennsylvania to hold table-top drills in Cambria and
Lehigh counties, as well as a full-scale exercise in King of
Prussia.
Gene Patten of Dana Transportation Companies and
Bruce Gacsal of Quality Distribution, Inc. are the Re-
ASKRAIL, TRAINING, AND INNOVATION BOOSTING PENNSYLVANIA RAIL SAFETY
gion 1 TRANSCAER coordinators, and they can pro-
vide help in obtaining training. Patten can be reached
at 1-800-733-3262 or and
Gacsal can be reached at 718-424-3069 or bgacsal@quali-
Likewise, Joseph Taylor of CSX and
John Casey of Casey’s Specialized Services are the Penn-
sylvania state coordinators for TRANSCAER. Taylor
can be reached at 412-928-4730 or
and Casey can be reached at 717-344-9807 or john.casey.
Railroads also recognize that mitigation and response are
only part of the equation, alongside prevention. In 2016,
the rail industry will continue advancing innovations that
improve the efficiency and safety of the network. Multidi-
mensional ultrasonic technology, currently in testing, is a
sophisticated system that aims to identify track imperfec-
tions. Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, are also being
tested for use in track and bridge inspections.
Safety is at the core of railroading culture and freight rail-
roads will continue to advance innovations that prepare
emergency responders and make a safe mode of transpor-
tation even safer—in Pennsylvania and across the country.
_______________________________________________
Emily Traiforos is the State Director for Pennsylvania at GoRail, a
national non-profit promoting the benefits of freight railroads. For more
information on how your first responders can access AskRail, visit: