Facilitating location of an accident site

Time was wasted in locating problems between the engine driver and the traffic controller and between the traffic controller and the Emergency Response Centre. Because of these difficulties, the traffic controller had problems clarifying to the ERC operator the location of the level crossing. For the entire duration of the rescue operation, the level crossing was referred to with incorrect names. At their worst, such location problems can lead to treatment procedures being delayed, with fatal consequences.

A variety of operators should develop systems and implement equipment to facilitate location of an accident site.

Means might be, for example:
- The engine driver, traffic controller, and ERC all having a copy of the same rail-section-specific list of level crossing locations. The list should specify the exact location and name of the level crossing. This would, in part, aid in communications between the parties. Now, a significant amount of time is spent in locating the level crossing.
- The Emergency Response Centre Administration should attend to all ERCs using the location details of the railway network in a consistent manner.
- Nowadays, an alternative, faster way of locating locomotives would be to equip them with a GPS unit, which would provide precise location details in an easily transmittable format.

Time was wasted in locating problems between the engine driver and the traffic controller and between the traffic controller and the Emergency Response Centre. Because of these difficulties, the traffic controller had problems clarifying to the ERC operator the location of the level crossing. For the entire duration of the rescue operation, the level crossing was referred to with incorrect names. At their worst, such location problems can lead to treatment procedures being delayed, with fatal consequences.