LUL AND BTP JOIN FORCES TO RESPOND TO INCIDENTS QUICKER
Published at 00:41 on Friday 10th February 2012
Tags: London Underground, BTP, Emergency, Docklands Light Railway, London Overground, Croydon Tramlink, Emergency Response Unit
Two of the relivieried Emergency Response Vehicles are pictured at Canary Wharf in London. These vehicles will allow emergency teams to respond to emergency situations quicker. Kim Rennie
Specialist teams from London Underground will be able to respond to emergency incidents quicker, thanks to a new one-year trial being undertaken in association with the British Transport Police (BTP).
The trial aims to halve response times, and therefore increase network reliability, and means that Transport for London's (TfL) Emergency Response Unit vehicles will travel under the same 'Blue Light' conditions used by police, ambulance and fire services. This will enable a quicker response to incidents - enhancing passenger safety and reducing disruption and delays across the network.
The Emergency Response Unit is a team operated by Tube Lines on behalf of TfL and consists of over 100 staff which will increase to over 130 employees by the start of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Under 'blue lights' the ERU will respond to incidents where public safety is at risk such as obstructions blocking the track, broken down trains, 'person under a train' incidents and other emergency response and recovery situations. The use of the 'blues & twos' on the ERU vehicle will be subject to the same criteria as any other incident that police attend in that public safety must be at risk before they can be activated.
The trial involves a new fleet of three response vehicles which have been transformed into new British Transport Police livery, and will be driven by a BTP officer under blue light conditions when appropriate. The vehicles are not police incident vehicles in the normal sense of the word, all the equipment is rail-related, and they will also be utilised to respond to less serious events without using blue lights.
The trial aims to halve the time taken to respond to incidents, and to reduce disruption and delays to passengers.
Jon Lamonte, the TfL Director responsible for the team, said: "Our specialist unit could be described as London's unknown emergency service - responding to incidents day and night across the Capital."
In addition to the new fleet of BTP-liveried vehicles, the ERU also runs nine fire engine-style trucks containing equipment to fix track, signals, trains and more, plus some other support vehicles
The Emergency Response Unit (ERU), and the three response vehicles, supports the whole London Underground network as well as London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and London Tramlink.
Tube Lines are also to trial the use of a motorbike to allow a faster delivery of small but vital parts (e.g. signal relays), although this is a purely Tube Lines/LU initiative and does not involve the BTP and the bike is not equipped with blues and twos.
