3rd rail question

I saw a photo on one of the facebook pages of a sheep on/near the 3rd rail. Apparently the animal was saved! How quickly can the 3rd rail be deactivated in emergency situations? Is it as simple as turning a switch and it's off? I have always wondered about this for emergency situation like today's case!

i am just going by my knowledge of electrical systems (utility side)

if they have a good Scada network they could open the breaker up at the station really quik

But remember unless its grounded its not dead

Depends on the location, some portions of the territory have switches to kill the third rail almost immediately. In other places it might take a minute or two by calling the OCC. But even if the third rail is killed it's still possible for a train to bridge electrified sections.

The third rail can be de-energized at sub stations or at section switches and all by remote via Power director in New York.
at the substations they can kill the track circuit breaker or in field they can open the section switches (big white boxes next to third rail) located at a 20 foot gap in third rail.