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Training Tunnel a First in U.S.
Metrorail Facility Allows Realistic Disaster Drills at Any Hour

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 11, 2002; Page B01

In a fake subway tunnel built inside a Landover warehouse, Metro officials yesterday "turned on" a simulated fire to show off the nation's first training tunnel where emergency workers can practice how to respond to rail disasters.

The $700,000 center -- built by Metro workers -- holds a pair of old Metro rail cars positioned on tracks, with an inactive third rail. Yesterday, smoke machines filled the tunnel with a gray haze and theatrical equipment created a faux fire as local and federal transit officials inspected the new center.

"This one-of-a-kind fire facility will provide a training ground . . . giving firefighters, police and other responders hands-on experience," said Federal Transit Administrator Jenna Dorn.

Metro began designing the center before Sept. 11 as a place where local fire, police and special operations teams could perform disaster drills under realistic conditions.

Until now, that practice took place in the Metro system after midnight, when the subway shut down. But those late hours made it difficult for many firefighters and police officers to schedule drills, and the kinds of exercises they could perform were limited, said Fred Goodine, Metro's assistant general manager for safety.

The Landover facility will be available for training seven days a week, 24 hours a day. "When we were thinking about building this, we asked the fire chiefs, if we build it, will you come? And the answer was a resounding yes," said Richard A. White, Metro's chief executive officer.

Prince George's County Fire Chief Ronald D. Blackwell, whose department is the first in the region to schedule training sessions in the new center, said it offers his firefighters a great opportunity to hone skills. "It allows you to get up close in a controlled environment and also perhaps to introduce other training besides fire: chemical, biological or nuclear elements," he said.

David Snyder, superintendent for operations and safety at Virginia Railway Express, said that commuter railroads could benefit from using the Metro facility and that he wants the fire departments that serve VRE to train there.

The facility is equipped with cameras that record activities in the tunnel, allowing workers to later study and critique their responses. And it has mock emergency communications equipment that connects to a fake operations center next to the tunnel, so responders can practice talking with train controllers.

Metro hopes to invest an additional $2 million in the facility, which would allow the agency to bring water to the tunnel and create a mock station just outside the tunnel, among other things.

Dorn said she would encourage emergency workers from the nation's other subway systems to train at the center, noting that the Federal Transit Administration made $50,000 emergency training grants available to transit systems after Sept. 11.