N Line partnered with authorities, stakeholders for June's emergency drill

On June 29, N Line Commuter Rail Transportation held a joint emergency exercise on the Skyway Bridge with Commerce City and local emergency services providers.

“The drill was held to ensure the safety of RTD’s customers and the public,” Manager of Rail Service Delivery Phil Washington Jr. said. “This demonstrated that RTD, local law enforcement and emergency responders could effectively demonstrate successful response procedures in the event of an emergency.”

RTD and Denver Transit Operators (DTO) conduct one emergency drill a year to identify flaws in emergency response in the unlikely event of an actual emergency onboard or near a train. While RTD and DTO share the responsibility of conducting drills, both parties switch drill duties every year, with DTO taking point on next year’s emergency drill.

“The locations are varied year over year in order to gain emergency response experience in various areas of the alignments,” Washington said.

Preparation for the drill begins the day before the activities commence. N Line and RTD’s Emergency Management teams come together with other stakeholders to create a scenario, which is acted out through a tabletop exercise. Once the scenario has been agreed upon, the actual drill commences on the scheduled day.

During the drill, first responders and local law enforcement simulate the response to the scenario, which, in this case, was an emergency evacuation of a train stuck on the Skyway Bridge near Suncor Energy’s Commerce City refinery.

“The idea is to analyze the response, compare it against our published standard operating procedures, receive feedback from local authorities and ultimately improve our overall emergency response in real world situations,” Washington said.

After the drill is complete, all findings and observations are analyzed and reviewed by the agency, and corrective action plans are put into place to address any identified issues.