Canadian railroads release video on AskRail mobile app

Canadian railroads yesterday released a new promotional video about AskRail™, a mobile application that provides first responders real-time information about rail-car contents in the event of an train accident or emergency.

Railway Association of Canada (RAC) President Michael Bourque and Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs President Paul Boissonneault appear in the video, along with members of the city of Vaughan’s fire and rescue service, to explain how AskRail works and how emergency responders can sign up to access the app.

Developed by the Association of American Railroads and its members, including CN and Canadian Pacific, AskRail enables emergency responders across North America to review rail-car contents via a search function, and obtain railroad emergency contact information and resources to support incident responses.

Canadian railroads provide municipalities with regular reports about hazardous materials moving through their communities, including the number of unit trains, the percentage of cars carrying haz-mat materials, and the nature and volume of the goods. But AskRail goes further by giving emergency responders another tool to use in responding to a railway incident, RAC officials said in a press release.

So far, more than 2,000 first responders across Canada have signed up to use the app, they said. For more information about AskRail, read this article that was posted to Progressive Railroading’s website last year.