How can virtual training help emergency services and other organisations prepare together before a major physical exercise? On 10 September, we had the opportunity to explore exactly that as part of Exercise Rosten 2026.
Ahead of the full-scale emergency exercise at Rosten on the Dovre Line, participants from several organisations came together in Fynd CORE to experience and work through the same railway accident scenario they would later encounter in the physical exercise.
The virtual exercise gave us valuable insight into how immersive training can support situational awareness, role understanding and collaboration across organisations, but also what we can improve as we continue developing this type of training.
Recreating Rosten virtually
The scenario involved a passenger train colliding with a large rock at 85 kilometres per hour, creating a complex accident scene requiring coordination between multiple emergency and preparedness organisations.
Before meeting at the physical accident site, participants could experience the scenario virtually.
The environment was recreated in Fynd CORE, including the terrain, train sets, people and damage caused by the collision. Participants could move through the environment, familiarise themselves with the scene and work together around the same shared operational picture.
The purpose was not to replace the physical exercise.
It was to explore whether immersive training could provide participants with another opportunity to prepare, communicate and understand the situation before entering a large-scale physical exercise.
The train collision from inside Fynd CORE.
Following the virtual exercise, 26 participants, observers and members of the exercise organisation responded to an anonymous evaluation. The evaluation included 26 respondents: 13 who actively trained in VR, eight who observed the exercise, and five from exercise management and other roles.
The respondents represented health services, SJ Norge, police, fire and rescue, Bane NOR and exercise management. Importantly, the group had very different levels of experience with VR, with 11 respondents saying they had never used VR before.
The evaluation gives us several useful indications of where participants see value in this type of training.
Among the 13 active VR participants, situational awareness stood out as the area where the largest number of respondents felt VR provided particular value. Role understanding, collaboration and decision-making were also highlighted.
Looking more broadly at how respondents could see VR being used in the future:
These results are particularly interesting for civil preparedness, where organisations often need to train together but may be geographically dispersed or have limited opportunities to organise large-scale physical exercises.
The evaluation also gave us useful input for further development. Participants highlighted communication and audio management as areas where the experience can be improved, particularly when several people and organisations are operating in the same virtual environment. This is valuable feedback.
Exercises such as Rosten allow us to develop Fynd CORE together with the people who use it, while also improving our understanding of how virtual exercises should be designed, facilitated and integrated into broader preparedness training.
The evaluation itself should not be viewed as a final conclusion. It represents feedback from one exercise and a relatively small group of respondents. But it gives us a valuable starting point for further testing and development.
The virtual exercise on 10 September was only the first part of the journey. On 26 September, the same underlying scenario moved into the physical world during the full-scale Exercise Rosten. This gives us an important opportunity to look beyond the VR exercise itself.
Did experiencing the scenario virtually help participants when they later encountered it physically? Did familiarity with the environment, roles and scenario contribute to their preparation? A separate evaluation connected to the physical exercise will help us explore those questions.
For now, the virtual exercise has already given us valuable insight into both the possibilities and the areas we can continue improving. Because when major incidents are difficult to recreate and opportunities to practise together are limited, virtual training can provide another way to prepare. Read more on Civil Preparedness and book your brief.