Railway safety and crime

BTP issues warning after teen almost killed trespassing at Bescot depot

08.06.17: Police have today released information about a pair of teenagers who were seriously injured last week after being electrocuted by overhead wires when they climbed on top of a freight train in a rail depot. By releasing the information, the...

Courageous BTP officer praised as London Bridge station reopens

05.06.17: London Bridge station has today reopened following the terrorist incident that took place in the capital on Saturday evening. Network Rail had warned that police cordons were expected to be in place until at least 8am, but work was conclude...

Bravery of rail staff praised as Manchester Victoria reopens

30.05.17: Manchester Victoria has reopened for passengers today after being closed for seven days following the terrorist incident last week. The station was shut after the attack on 22 May at Manchester Arena’s foyer to allow police to carry o...

Firearms officers patrol trains for the first time

26.05.17: For the first time in rail history, specialist firearms officers will patrol trains across the UK network to ensure that the travelling public are kept safe after Monday’s terrorist attack. Following the events of the suicide bombing...

BTP steps up officer numbers at stations as terrorist threat level raised

24.05.17: The presence of police officers at UK railway stations has been stepped up today in light of Monday’s terrorist attack in Manchester. Manchester Victoria, which is right next to where the incident at Manchester Arena took place, has r...

Risk management for railway engineering

22.05.17: RTM talks to Ben Shirley, health and safety risk specialist at the ORR, about the importance of risk management on Great Britain’s railways. Keeping risk ‘as low as reasonably practicable’ (ALARP) is an essential part of m...

Collecting safety culture data confidentially

21.03.17: Chris Langer, scheme intelligence manager at CIRAS, explains how confidential reporting can ‘deep dive’ into an organisation’s safety and reporting culture to reveal what might be happening far beneath the surface, often hidden...

TfL admits liability over Croydon tram crash

16.03.17: Transport for London (TfL) has today begun admitting liability for its part in the Croydon tram crash of 9 November 2016, in relation to compensation claims from families of the victims of the crash. The tram was found to be travelling at o...

The eccentric side of cable theft prevention

09.03.17: Ghost trains, secretive Coke cans and bespoke beer mats: RTM’s Luana Salles speaks to Richard Godwin, Network Rail’s route crime manager for the London North West (LNW) route, about the unusual tactics behind the success of the natio...

Tackling the ever-growing terrorist threat

09.03.17: RTM talks to Assistant Chief Constable (ACC) Alun Thomas, the lead for counter-terrorism at British Transport Police (BTP), about how the force is tackling the growing threat from terrorism. At BTP, the job is to keep the millions of people...

RAIB to investigate serious Cardiff signalling irregularity

02.02.17: The Rail Accident and Investigation Branch (RAIB) has announced that it will be conducting an investigation into a serious signalling irregularity discovered just outside Cardiff Central station between Christmas and the New Year. The irreg...

Vivarail lays out action plan as faulty repair work to blame for train fire

02.02.17: Vivarail has released its full report on the Class 230 test train fire that took place over the festive period, concluding that the cause of the fire was due to a fuel leak in one of the train’s gensets, likely caused during recent repair...

Lewisham derailment to disrupt Southeastern commuters for days

26.01.17: Southeastern services are set to be disrupted for the rest of the week following the partial derailing of a freight train in Lewisham, south east London. Network Rail has confirmed that a 50-metre stretch of railway is being “complete...

BTP: Rail industry ‘nervous’ about policing integration

25.01.17: Proposals which may see British Transport Police (BTP) integrated into a national infrastructure force have raised concerns across the railway industry, BTP chiefs have revealed. BTP bosses made the admission during an evidence session in f...

Greater action needed nationally to tackle ‘Martini’ terrorism

24.01.17: British Transport Police (BTP) chiefs have revealed that the service is putting increasing amounts of its core funding into countering terrorism on Britain’s railways, but other areas of the force’s work are having to absorb the cost...