Railway Accident Investigation Course
Eight officers, together with 22 staff members of the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC), Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) and Hong Kong Railway Inspectorate, have attended a tailor-made training course on investigation of major railway accidents.
Of the officers, two came from Railway District, and six from Regional Crime Units.
The training course was provided by the Disaster Management Centre of the
Cranfield University in the UK at the
Operations Training Centre of MTRC's Kowloon Bay Depot from March 15 to 19, at the invitation of the Railway District with the objective of enhancing the Force's
capability of handling investigation of major railway accidents.
While Assistant Commissioner (Training) David Thomas gave an opening speech and attended the closing ceremony, the senior officials of the two railway corporations presented certificates of attendance to the 30 trainees.
The objectives of the railway accident investigation course were:
* synthesising a joint protocol that will define the roles and responsibilities of
participating agencies in the investigation of major railway accidents;
* establishing the role of command and co-ordination arrangement to be operated in the aftermath of a serious training accident, and
* evaluating the evidence that can be
provided by railway engineering staff.
The training course was conducted by training staff members of the Disaster
Management Centre: Mr Peter Clarke, Mr William Alan Clark and Mr Mike
McLoughlin, all held in high regard in the field of railway operation and accident investigation.
While Mr Clarke and Mr Clark are retired Chief Inspectors of the UK Police, Mr McLoughlin was the Chief Derailment Investigator of the British Railway before his retirement. He had also been a panel member of numerous railway inquiries and expert witness in judicial proceedings.
A "Train-the-trainer" approach has been adopted for the course, and the training materials provided by Cranfield will be used for information sharing within the Force.
Assistant Commissioner (Training) David Thomas receives a souvenir from Mr William Clark