Railway safety and crime

Innovation through people and technology

18.09.18: Ian Prosser, HM chief inspector of railways and director of railway safety at the ORR, picks out the key industry challenges to focus on based on the regulator’s most recent annual health and safety report. In the ORR’s most rec...

Firefighters called to station as control room batteries release hazardous fumes

17.09.18: Firefighters from Essex County Fire and Rescue Service attended an indecent yesterday at Colchester station after reports of hazardous fumes had caused someone to fall ill. The local fire service said: “On arrival firefighters reporte...

Sandilands: Lessons for the mainline

11.09.18: The tragic Croydon crash of 2016 provided many lessons for the UK tramways. But the mainline railway would be wrong to assume many of these lessons don’t apply to them too, says Simon French, chief inspector of rail accidents at the RAIB. ...

RAIB releases report after passenger trapped in door and dragged by Metrolink tram

10.09.18: A passenger was dragged along by a Metrolink tram after the safety system failed to register that his hand was trapped in the door, a rail accident report has found. Metrolink said this was an unintentional error, and the Rail Accident Inve...

Greater Anglia employs extra Land Sheriffs to improve safety and security for passengers

07.09.18: TOC Greater Anglia is employing additional Land Sheriffs to improve safety and security of passengers on their trains. The Land Sheriffs will patrol trains and stations, dealing with anti-social behaviour and enforcing railway bylaws, aimin...

TOCs urged to conduct proper safety checks after trapped passenger is dragged by train

30.08.18: An incident that saw a passenger dragged along by a train after getting trapped in the closing doors was caused by operational issues and a misunderstanding of safety instructions, the RAIB has found. On 26 March this year, a woman was drag...

Three people killed in separate incidents on British tracks

30.08.18: Two people have died in separate incidents after being struck by trains on the railways yesterday. The first incident occurred at 10:28am when officers were called to Kenilworth Station following reports that a person had been struck by a t...

Nexus lacked ‘effective safe system of work’ during near-miss on Metro line

29.08.18: Procedures from passenger transport executive Nexus “did not assist with the creation of an effective safe system of work,” the RAIB has said in an investigation released after two track workers narrowly avoided being struck by a Tyn...

Plough about that! Severe disruption in Yorkshire as tractor crashes onto train tracks

16.08.18: Passengers travelling between Leeds and Doncaster, Sheffield, and London were advised to check before they set off this morning after a tractor damaged railway tracks and overhead equipment near Wakefield. The vehicle towing a trailer damag...

Staff scramble to safety from 125mph train in near-miss due to ‘unsafe and unofficial’ working practices

16.08.18: A group of track workers narrowly escaped a devastating incident after just moving clear of a 125mph train on the East Coast Main Line (ECML). The incident occurred on the morning of 5 October last year at Egmanton level crossing, between N...

Train at over 70mph almost collides with workers in near-miss

10.08.18: Two bridge workers narrowly avoided a devastating collision with a train travelling at more than 70mph in Dundee, an investigation has found. The staff members, who were working as part of a gang on a bridge approaching Dundee station, expe...

First-ever drone flight over ‘trespass hotspot’ will send images directly to BTP

03.08.18: A Network Rail drone will be making its very first flight over the south western rail route today to survey a trespass hotspot in order to record any incidences of people risking their lives on the tracks, with images set to be passed onto the B...

Wi-fi as a weapon

03.07.18: Self-described ethical hacker Ken Munro, a security entrepreneur at Pen Test Partners, attracted a full house at this year’s Infrarail during his presentation on how customer communication networks can be used to take over trains and have...

Person dies after being hit by train in Greater Manchester

03.07.18: A person has died after being struck by a train in Greater Manchester last night. British Transport Police (BTP) attended the line close to Chester Road in Stretford near Trafford Park train station at 17:55 last night. A BPT spokesper...

Person hit and killed by train on Dawlish railway

28.06.18: Emergency services were called to Devon’s main railway line at 6am this morning after a person was hit by a train. The British Transport Police confirmed they were dealing with a fatality, although there are no further details yet as...