The Rail Strategic Agreement For Emergencies (Rail SAFE) is published and is live as of the 12th of September 2025
The aim of Rail SAFE is to raise the risks involved during railway incident response and options for mitigation with the Emergency Services, to gain agreement and greater collaboration to brief, use and train the details of the Emergency Services Guidance. The following link provides the current live version of the Rail Strategic Agreement For Emergencies.
Access the Rail Strategic Agreement For Emergencies (Rail SAFE)
Support for Rail SAFE
On 12/06/2025 JESIP, through their Interoperability Board with representation for the police, fire and ambulance services, formally agreed to endorse and support the use of Rail SAFE by Emergency Services under its framework. The Rail SAFE initiative is designed to complement existing legal obligations, including those set out in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Human Rights Act 1998.
Page 2 of Rail SAFE currently lists organisations that have formally confirmed their support for Rail SAFE. Those that have confirmed support for Rail SAFE include JESIP, the British Transport Police (BTP), the National Fire Chiefs’ Council (NFCC) and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).
Work is ongoing to brief organisations, and the agreement is presently under review by the following bodies, and we will continue to consult any others required:
- The Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) Group representing the ambulance service.
- The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), also representing the ambulance service.
If your organisation is not currently working with Network Rail regarding actions detailed in Rail SAFE and you wish to work collaboratively, please contact the national Policing, Security and Resilience leads at Network Rail via PSR@NetworkRail.co.uk
