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John Grant   06/01/2017 at 13:15

According to the RSSB website and there are several "train-platform interface" injuries each year, but I can't find any analysis of how many of those are with guard-controlled vs driver-controlled doors, compared to the total number of passengers getting on and off each type of train. Does anyone have access to those figures?

Brian Imrie   06/01/2017 at 15:21

The rail industry uses a recording system for all accidents,incidents, near misses. Workforce or public. Anywhere in the country, area specifically by station or across the whole country The data input can be by train operator or Network Rail, by requesting for type of accident, a report can be produced that would give the information required.

Jerry Alderson   06/01/2017 at 18:48

RTM said:"asked the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to set out a national safety framework for train dispatch to further improve the way that trains are dispatched across the UK." Correction: The ORR does not regulate rail across the UK. It only regulates across Britain. Perhaps RTM ought to learn the difference between Britain and the UK. (For those who do not know, the UK includes Northern Ireland, but Britain does not. The railway is still 100% nationalised in NI and there is no ORR involvement.) I have said for a long time that DCO is an issue that should have been settled 25 years ago. The current Southern dispute has been waiting to happen for ages. A few weeks ago ASLEF were against the *principle* of DCO. Now they seem to have softened, only challenging the *implentation* of it. If that is real movement then I am very pleased for the sake of passengers. Once that the Southern industrual action is resolved and unions have fully bought into it then the same *agreed* implementation should be rolled out across Britain. It's important that there is no further industrial action elsewhere. In that respect, I'm pleased that Chris Grayling has taken the initiative.

Jak Jaye   07/01/2017 at 09:23

Beggars belief that months into a DOO despute the less than useless Grayling has said there should be a national framework bit late in the day Chris, the framework should be in place NOW! as for GTR how much longer is this cowboy operator going to be allowed to ruin a railway?

Jon   07/01/2017 at 13:16

Why wasn't the rail regulator asked to do this before they put into the contracts for running the franchises that there must be a certain number of doo introduced the only people to blame for this fiasco are whoever stipulated doo to start with which i dont believe were the tocs or the unions.If they are happy to still have a person on board (which the govt and tocs seem happy with) why not call them a guard,let them operate the doors and dispatch and leave the driver to drive

Jerry Alderson   07/01/2017 at 19:15

Re: Jon's question about the plans for DCO i.e. drivers to fully control trains and let the seond person focus on serving passengers - something that is *really good news* for passengers, by the way, providing that passenger improvements are delivered, such as faster journeys and staff not 'hiding' in the rear cab the entire journey except when at stations. Two days before the GTR franchise began in Septmber 2014, RTM had an article in which it was mentinoned that GTR woudl be introducing DCO (and also moving station staff from behind glass windows to standing next to customers). This was clearly signed up in advance - whether it was a DfT or GTR initiative I don't know, but clearly the DfT 100% approved of it. Moreover, the DfT has contractually obliged Nothern to operate 50% of trains as DCO once the new trains are in service. I completely agree that it was foolish to contract a TOC to do so without a national framework being in place, even if the unions had not agreed to it. Drivers being solely in charge is commonplace in Europe. I spent three years in Vienna where everything is done that way (apart from certain longer-distance and cross-border trains). Denmark pioneered it in the 1970s, I believe, and Germany has taken it to a fine art. When I was last in Paris I took photos of French trains with external cameras.

Puzzled Old Railwayman   08/01/2017 at 14:54

As I understand it, under current Law the Safety Directorate of the ORR has no responsibility for setting safety frameworks - and hasn't since the ROGS regulations were passed in 2006 (which transposed the EU Safety Directive into Law). The Safety Directorate of the ORR are now simply responsible for supervising and enforcing compliance with railway legislation, and taking enforcement action. Responsibility for developing the safety framework in question - given the multiple parties involved - would possibly better sit with the RSSB, on behalf of infrastructure managers (e.g. Network Rail) and transport undertakings (e.g. Southern) who they represent. I am therefore puzzled why there has been no mention in all this of the Common Safety Method on Risk Evaluation and Assessment, which is Law in all EU Countries, and requires a company such as Southern to obtain an independent assessment by an accredited company of their proposals to manage the safety risks arising from the changes they are intending to make. Have not been able to find out whether Southern have done this - but if they haven't, implementing DOO without complying with the independent assessment requirement would be illegal! Don't have a lot of confidence that our legislators have the remotest grasp of the legislation or structure of the industry they purport to be responsible for!

Vaughan Cole   09/01/2017 at 15:06

In response to Jerry, my passport, refers to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island. The powers of ORR will be determined by Law which should be read with due care and attention.

Jerry Alderson   10/01/2017 at 19:31

@Vaughan Cole - ORR has no involvement in Northern Ireland. Its railway has always been independently run.

Puzzled Old Railwayman   11/01/2017 at 16:34

In response to Jerry Alderson and Vaughan Cole, the Safety Authority in Northern Ireland is the Department for the Development of Northern Ireland..who subcontract their work on Railway Safety to the Safety Directorate of the ORR in London!

Jerry Alderson   13/01/2017 at 15:53

Many thanks to Puzzled Old Railwayman for the clarification that ORR acts as a supplier of services in Northern Ireland. I was correct in saying that it is not the regulator. When I spoke to Ian Prosser, having challenged him on his use of UK rather that Britain, he agreed that they only regulated in Britain. I hadn't considered the outsourcing possibility. This is a bit like Network Rail only operating in Britain but selling consultancy around the world. I might get shot for saying this, but I had wondered if it NI Railways outsourced to IE as it already operates cross-border trains with them.