Virginia Railway Express
Commuter Weekly, April 13, 2004
The safety of VRE’s passengers is a top priority, and, thankfully, VRE’s trains are full of concerned and aware passengers every single day. Over the years, there have been plenty of emergencies onboard—most frequently a medical emergency suffered by a rider. While we all hope that no such event occurs during your commute, it’s always best to be prepared so that if something does come up, you’ll know exactly how to react.
Let’s assume that someone in your car is feeling dizzy, has passed out or collapsed. In such a medical emergency, the first and most important step is to summon a conductor. VRE’s conductors are always within two car-lengths of every passenger (each conductor is responsible for three cars, and assuming the train is six cars long, that means a conductor will either be in your car or one or two cars away). There are no intercoms for passengers to use between cars, so it is easiest and fastest to simply call them over if they’re in your car or have another passenger go and get them if they’re in another car. They are always in uniform so will be easy to identify.
Once called, the conductor will ask for a doctor on board and summon emergency help at the next available place or station. Conductors are also trained to use the onboard Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) in the case of a heart attack.
What riders should NOT do for a medical emergency is apply the emergency brake. The emergency brake, located at the end of the coach and identified by a red handle with an instructional sign, irrevocably stops the train, which can delay the train by at least five minutes and sometimes more. This also delays the ability of emergency response teams to reach the afflicted passenger.
“We unfortunately had such a situation arise very recently when a rider suffered a seizure, and a fellow passenger mistakenly thought that pulling the handle would summon a conductor. Instead, it stopped the train,” said David Snyder, VRE’s Superintendent of Operations, Safety and Security. “The engineers cannot override an emergency brake. He can tell from his gauges that one has been pulled, but he cannot tell from which car it was pulled, so the crew has to then walk the train to see where it was pulled and then walk outside to make sure that the emergency brake application did not damage anything. Depending on how long this takes, delays are inevitable and usually range from five to 10 minutes—which, in a medical emergency, could make a huge difference.”
The emergency brake, then, should only be used if there is extreme danger to the continued movement of the train. “If there is a violent, continuous lurching of the train, for example, that could indicate a mechanical difficulty or a derailment. In that instance, pulling the brake would be appropriate,” Snyder said. “If a passenger perceives that the train has derailed, it’s okay to pull the brake, as it is possible for the engineer in another car to be unaware of it.”
Although the rider in this instance was okay and the delayed response did not affect their health any further, another medical emergency, which occurred just a few days later, was handled perfectly, illustrating how much more effective calling the conductor can be.
“We had just crossed the Potomac River, and people were standing
in the aisle to get off in just a few minutes at L'Enfant, when those
of us by the exit door heard someone say, ‘Get the conductor!’ Someone
had collapsed at the front of the car, and the conductor, Bill [Boggs],
came immediately, “ said rider Linda Vearrier. “One of
the passengers came up the crowded aisle to inform Billy of the situation,
while another passenger very calmly asked someone to call 911. These
are passengers with whom I ride every day, and they were responding
very calmly and matter-of-factly to an emergency as if they had been
through drills on how to handle them! I was very impressed with the
VRE staff and the passengers. I feel very safe riding with my ‘train
buddies’ now, knowing that they would do the same if it were
me. THANK YOU!”