BAA Heathrow Express

Crisis Management Training

Operated by BAA, Heathrow Express carries an average of 15,000 passengers every day on its non- stop rail link between Paddington Station and London Heathrow Airport.

With safety a high priority for the company, Heathrow Express regularly tests its response to major incidents.

Media First, alongside the emergency services and the Heathrow Express team, played a vital role in a crisis management exercise held in January of this year. We provided a team of journalists and camera crews to simulate the media interest that a rail disaster would inevitably attract. The exercise ran in real time from 23:00 to 05:00.

Throughout the night our media team kept the pressure on, showing the Heathrow Express team what it's really like to handle intense media attention while dealing with an emergency situation.

"By regularly testing our response to an incident we can be sure our procedures are water-tight should the real thing ever happen. How we handle the public interest generated by a serious accident can be make or break for our business - we have a duty of care to our passengers and their families to communicate the right information, fast."
Iona MacLean, Head of PR and Communications, Heathrow Express.