Indian Railways has formed Railway Protection Force for quick relief and rescue operation in rail accidents which is capable of reaching the site of accident by road before the accident relief train.
Formed as a pilot project by the North Western Railway on the initiative of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, the team has been trained by the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and deployed at four locations – Bandikui, Lalgarh, Udaipur and Merta Road in all four divisions of the zone.
Railway Minister Vaishnav inspected the redevelopment work at Jaipur’s Gandhinagar station and also saw two teams of Railway Protection Force.
According to sources, the Railway Minister had expressed the need to work on the issue of faster evacuation of passengers from the derailed train in a meeting in November, 2023, following which a committee comprising North Western Railway, East Coast Railway, Indian Railway Disaster Management Institute (IRIDM) Bengaluru, Integral Coach Factory (ICF) and Rail Coach Factory (RCF) was constituted by the Railway Board.
As per the recommendations of the committee, a team of Railway Protection Force (RPF) and engineers from the Carriage & Wagon Department was formed and given one month training by the NDRF.
The Railway Board had approved work worth Rs 3.4 crore for enhancing disaster management. On this, the North Western Railway formed four teams. Each team consists of five RPF members and one C&W personnel, two reserves (one RPF and one C&W).
It was decided that the team members (6 in number) will work in pairs. The rescue team works under the control of RPF and will be used for rescue during train accidents and as per the request of the State Government. This pilot project has been brought for a period of 03 years.
A team of Railway Protection Force consists of around 25 types of equipment in one ISUZU vehicle, they include hydraulic cutter, driller, rope, walkie-talkie, torch, rod, chain, LED light, stretcher, ladder, fire fighting equipment, first aid box, etc.
Sources said the Railway Protection Force teams have to leave within 10 minutes of receiving information about the accident and reach the accident site within 60 minutes and start rescue and relief operations before the arrival of the Railway’s accident relief train.
The accident relief train has a team of 52 people who join the rescue and relief work along with the Rail Raksha Dal. According to sources, 21 people from RPF and C&W are being trained at IRIDM Bangalore.
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