A new term is added to the Swiss Railway Tunnel Firefighting Procedure: «emergency immobilisation». This term refers to placing wooden wedges on the wheels of rail vehicles to prevent it from rolling away. For comparison, the term «securing» is used when parking brakes and rail skids are used. This article explains the background and consequences of the new regulation.
Securing with parking brake and rail skid
The Swiss Rail Service Ordinance (RSO) stipulates that a train must only be secured against rolling away utilising parking brakes and rail skids. The railway undertaking (RU) - i.e., the company that operates the rail vehicles - is responsible for securing the cars. Suppose their employees, e.g. train drivers, are not able to do this. In that case, the task of securing can also be taken over by the railway infrastructure manager (RIM) - the company that provides the railway facilities - for example, by the intervention department of the Swiss Federal Railways SBB.
Fire services can secure railway wagons with wooden wedges
If securing in accordance with RSO is not possible because the necessary specialised personnel are not available or there is no access due to fire and smoke, the fire service can place wooden wedges. The wooden wedges are intended to prevent railway cars from moving uncontrolled and endangering people. However, this «securing» of a train does not meet the requirements of the RSO. For this reason, the new term «emergency immobilisation» has been introduced.
New language convention for clear communication
In terms of content, the Railway Tunnel Firefighting Procedure remains the same. Merely, the new wording is introduced to emphasise the difference to securing in accordance with the RSO. This adaptation was decided by the Didactics and Development Team (DDT) of the International Fire Academy, which had developed the Railway Tunnel Firefighting Procedure. Its members include representatives of the fire services and the major Swiss railway companies.
Applies to Switzerland, interesting for all
The new language is only binding for Swiss fire services. However, the topic of «securing trains» should be of great interest to all fire services that are deployed on railway systems. Using wooden wedges is always a controversial issue. Here, the International Fire Academy recommends clarifying the open questions with the railway companies and establishing an unambiguous language regulation as is now practised in Switzerland.
