Rail emergency training exercises being held in London

CTV London: Preparing for rail disaster in London Emergency responders and the city's emergency planners are all on hand to train for any potential rail disaster. Sean Irvine reports.

Emergency training involving the city, CN Rail and Canadian Pacific is being held in London for five days starting on Tuesday.

It is hoped the training will improve London's ability to respond to any rail accident and build collaboration between the city and railway staff.

London Mayor Joni Baechler said in a statement, “Both railroads have main lines running through our city, and transport goods not only to London but to destinations across the country. Given this large volume of rail traffic we place great focus on safety and training so we are prepared to respond in case of an emergency.”

More than 41 officials from the city and seven area municipalities or agencies are involved in the training.

The training exercises will include the use of rail cars, emergency vehicles and staff, and are being held on rail lines that will be taken out of service, however there are active rail tracks nearby.

It is being held at the CN rail yard south of the Western Fairgrounds between Rectory and Egerton Streets and is closed to the public.

The city says the training scenarios could involve vehicles using their emergency lights, and special effects to enhance the training, and the public need not call 911 for activities at that site from Aug. 5 to 9 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

This is the first collaborative training exercise of this scale since 2007.