NS Safety Services has developed a modular rescue train mounted on a crane-equipped Volvo truck, with the aim of getting hydraulic jacks, cutters and other equipment to accident sites within 15min of being called out. The truck carries three 2·5 tonne units which are lowered onto the track at a level crossing or other access point.
One unit is equipped with an 11 kVA diesel generator set and hauls the others to the accident site, driven from a retractable side platform. Each unit of the rescue train can carry up to three people riding on the platform.
Seven emergency trucks each costing 250000 guilders are on 24h stand-by at seven locations throughout the Netherlands, manned by staff from rolling stock maintenance depots at Onnen, Zwolle, Amersfoort, Haarlem, Rotterdam, Tilburg and Amersfoort. Two additional units with extra equipment are based at Tilburg and Utrecht, although the new trains are intended to provide a quick response before the arrival of heavier equipment such as breakdown cranes.
NS Beveiliging Services
Netherlands
Reader Enquiry Number 136
