Light rail derailment drill Tuesday will test U, metro disaster readiness

An emergency drill on Tuesday near TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis will simulate an explosion and derailment on a Metro Transit Green Line light rail train.

The drill begins at 9 a.m. next to the Green Line's Stadium Village station. Smoke, a large number of emergency vehicles with flashing lights, individuals feigning distress or injury and fast-paced activity will be visible, but public safety will not be at risk, officials said. More than 250 people will act as first responders, controllers, evaluators and role players.

The exercise meets federal requirements for new and existing rail lines. It's also an opportunity to test ways to send out emergency information to the general public, metro area, and university community, University of Minnesota Police Lt. Erik Swanson said.

"One of the elements here will be developing information from the scene that they think is very relevant that people need to know, moving that information to administrators, and administrators developing a timely message that gets out that would warn people about things," Swanson said, adding that they would simulate using things like the university's texting alert system.

The Metro Transit Police Department and the University of Minnesota Police Department are heading the exercise, and several other public safety agencies will participate, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Ramsey County emergency responders and organizations.

"It's an opportunity for these public safety agencies to come together around an exercise and improve their relationships, their communication with one another," said Metro Transit spokesman John Siqveland. "So in the event that there's an incident, no matter how significant, there's a prior relationship so that people aren't meeting for the first time in the course of a response."

Responders will have a general outline of what will happen, but will be confronted with challenges and surprises throughout the exercise, Siqveland added. Evaluators will be on the scene monitoring reactions for later feedback.

Metro Transit has done other emergency simulations in the past, including a simulated derailment on the Northstar Line in Anoka and a mock bus-train crash in Bloomington, Siqveland said. Swanson said the university's also conducted an emergency preparedness exercise involving a simulated active shooter scenario on campus.

The Green Line is set to open June 14. Test trains are currently operating on the line.