Railroads and trucking companies are particularly dedicated to providing emergency responders with the information tools they need to deal with transportation incidents. Safety and emergency preparedness are ideals with no limit. The possibility for catastrophe is endless, making it the job of those in the safety industry and the government to constantly design and improve solutions to every increasing dangers. This especially applies in the emergency response field, where every day men and women put their lives on the line in the face of the unknown.
Since day one, the Operation Respond Institute (ORI), working on behalf of its participating railroad and trucking companies, has been dedicated to improving safety and preparedness for emergency responders. It is in this spirit that ORI prepares to release the newest version of the Operation Respond Emergency Information System (OREISTM). OREISTM version 4.5 will be available to the emergency response community on CD-ROM in December of 2001.
The new version will contain several new carriers and features in addition to the OREISTM functions that responders have come to count on, like hazardous materials content verification for trucks and freight trains as well as passenger railroad equipment schematics. OREISTM 4.5 will include newly added hazmat verification connections for the Utah Railway, TFM Railroad in Mexico and W.W. Rowland. W.W. Rowland is a large inter-modal trucking company based in Texas and represents a new wave of motor carriers demonstrating a proactive interest in responder safety.
Several passenger railroads have added equipment schematics to the new version, including the Northern Indiana Commuter District and Metro North. In addition, many existing carrier schematics have been updated, including Amtrak’s ACELA train.
The new OREIS Access (pat. pending) program, which helps responders locate a train that has been involved in an incident, will also be available in select areas of Michigan. This program will become more widely available as further maps are developed.
Operation Respond has recently been at work developing an Internet version of OREISTM. The program, still in the developmental phase, is available with limited capabilities at www.oreis.org.
OREISTM 4.5 will be available to emergency responders later this year. The system will cost the same as the current version, $350. Current members of Operation Respond will automatically receive the update. OREIS 4.5 will be a Windows-based application compatible with Windows 95, 98, 2000 and NT.
For more information, contact Adam Marton at (202) 548-0935, adamm@oreis.org.