Safe system of work: Moving rail vehicles

Fire and rescue services should gather and maintain knowledge about the railway infrastructure service providers in their area, including details of the types of moving rail vehicles.

Because of the hazard of moving rail vehicles, personnel should not enter onto the railway infrastructure until trains have been stopped, traction power is off (if required), and access has been authorised by Network Rail Route Control, relevant railway infrastructure service provider or the rail incident officer (RIO), unless there are extreme circumstances.

For further details about responding to extreme circumstances, refer to Follow Network Rail guidance for emergency services.

Rail vehicle speed

The JESIP/Network Rail Emergency Services Guidance, available on ResilienceDirect™, provides a table showing the time taken for rail vehicles to travel 50m at example speeds.

However, it may be difficult to estimate the speed of rail vehicles in order to predict the time available to move to a place of safety. Estimates may be affected by reduced visibility, track layout and topography of the area.

Rail vehicle noise

Personnel should consider the potential difficulties with hearing, communicating with, and warning others when a rail vehicle is approaching. It may be beneficial for personnel to remove radio earpieces that could distract them from hearing warning sounds, verbal safety warnings or approaching rail vehicles.

Air turbulence

To avoid being affected by the air turbulence created by moving rail vehicles:

• Personnel should stand 3m away from the tracks, with their back to the tracks, and on stable ground
• Personnel should stand behind lines marked on station platforms

It may also be necessary to move any fire and rescue service equipment or other objects away from the tracks, to avoid them being affected by the air turbulence created by moving rail vehicles.

Fire and rescue service equipment

As it could cause an obstruction, any fire and rescue service equipment taken within the railway infrastructure should be kept to a minimum and removed before any rail vehicle approaches.