Local emergency services are training with V/Line on responding to “rail incidents”.
Police, the SES, CFA and Ambulance Victoria were all involved in the first Geelong training session on Tuesday and would attend another this weekend, V/Line said.
The operator would conduct further sessions with emergency services at Traralgon and Bendigo later this month.
Knowing how to access trains, tracks and rail reserves during emergencies was “critical”, said V/Line chief operating officer Carol-Anne Nelson
“Safety is V/Line’s number one priority and these sessions are an opportunity to discuss and demonstrate how the various emergency services would safely respond to rail incidents,” she said. “This includes raising awareness of potential hazards on a train, the track or in the rail reserve, which could occur at anytime and anywhere on our regional network.
“We do everything we can to minimise incidents on the network but it’s important our emergency services are prepared and confident in the event something does happen.”
Positive feedback on the first training sessions in other parts of Victoria last year prompted V/Line to run more this year, Ms Nelson said.
She hoped around 40 emergency services personnel would attend each session.
