Railway safety and crime

The simplicity of station defibrillators

24.03.16: While not cheap, defibrillators can be a life-saving piece of kit at stations. Natalie Loughborough, customer service director at Northern Rail, explains the many benefits of these simple and safe to use devices for operators. When people s...

RAIB opens investigation following Grimston Lane level crossing fatality

22.03.16: The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has launched an investigation into the death of a pedestrian on a level crossing near Felixstowe last month. The fatality occurred at around 12.25pm on 23 February when the pedestrian was s...

Warning issued over out-of-date Underground safety advice after derailment

17.03.16: A train derailment on the London Underground may have been due to out-of-date signal documentation given to staff, prompting the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) to issue urgent safety advice. The derailment occurred at 1.30am on 2...

Deterring cable theft through DNA

14.03.16: James Brown, managing director at Selectamark Security Systems plc, discusses the successful work of the rail industry in reducing cable thefts. The use of DNA markers and warning signs saying it is in use have been key factors in ensuring...

UK one of ‘safest rail networks’ in Europe, despite capacity challenges – RSSB

09.03.16: UK rail safety standards are among the best in the world, the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) said as they released new figures showing that there have been no passenger or workforce deaths in train accidents for the eighth year in a row....

Wootton Bassett SPAD occurred after driver bypassed brake demand – RAIB

08.03.16: A safety breach at Wootton Bassett junction last year involved a crew member on a steam locomotive using an AWS isolating cock to bypass a brake demand, according to an interim report from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB). The...

Prioritising the cyber threats to ICS in rail

03.03.16: Dr John Easton, a lecturer working with the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education at the University of Birmingham, discusses the growing threat to the railways from cyber-attacks. Hardly a week goes by when there isn’t...

Using technology to reduce accidents at the platform edge

01.03.16: Kevin Thompson, RSSB SMS specialist, discusses how a new app will help encourage greater consistency in assessing risk on station platforms. In the last five years, 19 people have been killed and over 7,000 injured around the edge of statio...

RAIB investigation after train collides with boom at Barrow-on-Soar

01.03.16: A collision at Barrow-on-Soar in which a member of the railway staff was seriously injured after an East Midlands passenger train collided with a wagon boom is being investigated by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB). The acciden...

Analysing the root causes of Spain’s high-speed derailment

29.02.16: Chris Langer, scheme intelligence manager at CIRAS, looks at all the factors which led to the fatal derailment near Santiago de Compostela nearly three years ago. On 24 July 2013, a high-speed train travelling at around 190km/h, on its way...

RAIB calls for power operated door review after serious passenger injury

29.02.16: A serious accident on a Southeastern train at West Wickham where a passenger was injured after her backpack strap was trapped in the doors of a train was caused by a problem with door opening systems and the trainee driver failing to notice the...

What do passengers really think?

26.02.16: David Sidebottom, passenger director at Transport Focus, discusses the recent results of the National Rail Passenger Survey and new developments in recording passenger satisfaction. We speak to well over 100,000 passengers a year across our...

Campaign leads to 36% increase in sexual harassment complaints on London transport

26.02.16: Sexual harassment reports on London transport have increased by over a third in the past year following a campaign to encourage action on the problem. The number of complaints was 1,603 between April last year, when the ‘Report It to...

West Coast Railway banned from running services over safety concerns

18.02.16: Continued safety concerns have caused the Office of Road and Rail (ORR) to ban the West Coast Railway Company (WCRC) from running services on the mainline railway. The ORR issued a prohibition notice following a number of incidents, includi...

Cable theft drops 93% in five years

09.02.16: New figures from Network Rail show a 93% decrease in cable theft over the last five years, with the number of incidents falling from 845 in 2011-12 to 61 so far in 2015-16.  The latest National Performance Affecting Cable Theft Impact...