Norfolk Southern Railway Company has become the first rail carrier to provide hazardous materials information to emergency responders through a high speed Internet connection with the Operation Respond Emergency Information System (OREIS) software. This announcement came at a recent workshop at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset, KY, which was sponsored by the Operation Respond Institute (ORI), the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the U.S. Research and Special Programs Administration. This effort helps ensure that essential data about hazardous materials is available to emergency responders in a quick and accurate manner.
The development of an Internet link between Norfolk Southern and OREIS supports the safety and security of the nation's heavily traveled freight railroads. In the event of a rail incident, qualified pre-registered emergency responders can use OREIS to identify the hazardous materials content of a Norfolk Southern freight car in six to eight seconds. This is much faster than any other method of chemical verification for first responders and increases the number of queries that OREIS can handle in a given time period.
"Norfolk Southern understands the importance of supporting first responders. This new Internet link with OREIS will allow emergency officials to access information faster then ever before. Norfolk Southern has been recognized as having the safest employees in the rail industry for the past 15 years and we are proud to be the first railroad to establish this link with Operation Respond," said David Schoendorfer, Manager Hazardous Materials for Norfolk Southern.
It is anticipated that other Class I railroads in the United States and Canada will be following the lead of Norfolk Southern in establishing a high-speed, VPN Internet connection with OREIS.
"Norfolk Southern has helped us bring the OREIS system into the future. We are working to proliferate this software to responders along major rail lines and highway interstates. The dedication of Norfolk Southern as a leader in railroad safety and security should be commended," said Daniel M. Collins, President of Operation Respond.
OREIS™ is a software program that provides emergency responders with real-time data about hazardous materials, as well as passenger railroad and other transportation-related incidents. OREIS™ users constitute a network of emergency responders connected through email, cell phones and other communication systems. For more information, visit http://www.oreis.org or contact Adam Marton at adamm@oreis.org
Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates 21,500 route miles in 22 states, the District of Columbia and Ontario, serving every major container port in the eastern United States and providing superior connections to western rail carriers. NS operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is the nation's largest rail carrier of automotive parts and finished vehicles.