advertisement

---

So far this year, first responders from 10 states have sharpened their haz-mat response skills during Norfolk Southern Railway-sponsored tank car safety classes at the Transportation Technology Center Inc. (TTCI) in Pueblo, Colo.

In all, 113 students have attended the five-day, 40-hour courses at TTCI’s Emergency Response Training Center, which provides classroom training that simulates train, truck and barge accidents. The TTCI campus features 48 miles of track to test locomotives, vehicles, track components and signal devices. This year’s graduates hailed from such states as Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Participants received hands-on training to assess tank car damage, make repairs and transfer hazardous materials from damaged equipment. Students practiced wearing protective clothing and using self-contained breathing apparatus. In their final exercise, they participated in a simulated hazardous-material accident to learn how to work with railroads during emergencies and safe while on railroad property.

Since 1998, NS has sponsored 17 training programs at TTCI that have been attended by 712 emergency responders, NS employees and contractors. The railway also offers free hazardous material training programs within the communities it serves.