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Title: Video of broken down vehicle on Wokingham Level Crossing Post by: bobm on March 19, 2014, 22:30:05 Not quite so dramatic when you know the signals won't be cleared for trains until the crossing is clear - but even so.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNLsleY30B0&feature=player_embedded (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNLsleY30B0&feature=player_embedded) Take from a story on GetWokingham (http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/video-car-breaks-down-lines-6841807) Quote This driver and his friend had to think quickly after their car broke down on the tracks at Wokingham level crossing with a train approaching. This video taken by an eyewitness shows the white four-wheel drive vehicle stationary on the tracks at the crossing in Barkham Road. The video shows the warning lights, which tell drivers the barriers are due to shut, are sounding. In the end, the driver and his friend have no choice but to push the heavy vehicle up the hill and away from the tracks. Once the car was moved the barriers where able to close for the train to arrive at the new ^6 million station. Title: Re: Video of broken down vehicle on Wokingham Level Crossing Post by: Ollie on March 20, 2014, 12:20:38 Glad to see that some of the comments on the video are the same as what I was thinking... Put the phone away and go and help the guys clear the vehicle!
Title: Re: Video of broken down vehicle on Wokingham Level Crossing Post by: stuving on April 15, 2014, 09:09:47 Glad to see that some of the comments on the video are the same as what I was thinking... Put the phone away and go and help the guys clear the vehicle! But that is emphatically not what the highway code tells you to do - see Road works, level crossings and tramways (288 to 307) (https://www.gov.uk/road-works-level-crossings-tramways-288-to-307/level-crossings-291-to-299). Quote 299 Incidents and breakdowns. If your vehicle breaks down, or if you have an incident on a crossing you should
Which is all very well, but then what? These driver instructions are the same for all crossing types. The idea seems to be to check that it is safe to go onto the crossing to move the vehicle. But this is an MCB, with a permanently staffed signal box next to it, and no telephone. So shouldn't the signaller open the window and talk to you directly? I'm sure that used to be standard practice at one time. There's no sign of that happening on the video, though there could perhaps have been some kind of communication. Now you know, and I know, that at an MCB no train is signalled until the barriers are down and the signaller has checked the crossing and then cleared the signals. However, that has never been part of the public message. And, in any case, in the event of equipment failure or non-standard working that full interlock may be absent. That's when accidents can happen (and they have) and is the real reason for checking with the signaller. It is also a bit odd that there's no comment from the railway operators' side. I get the impression that is because this was not prepared as a news item, by a reporter, but as a video clip, written by ... someone who's not. There's been another incident since - see next post. Title: Re: Video of broken down vehicle on Wokingham Level Crossing Post by: stuving on April 15, 2014, 09:14:45 There's been another "incident" reported in the Wokingham Times: (http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/skateboarder-urged-come-forward-after-6944608)
Quote Skateboarder urged to come forward after rescuing driver stuck at Wokingham level crossing Apr 10, 2014 01:00 By Laura Miller Eyewitness Francine Twitchett said the boy averted a serious incident by lifting the barrier to hold up the gate (http://i3.getreading.co.uk/incoming/article6944627.ece/alternates/s615/JS34811340.jpg]) Francine Twitchett stands alongside the level crossing where a young man rescued a car which had got stuck between the barriers A skateboarding hero is urged to come forward after he raced to free a driver wedged under the barrier of the town^s main level crossing. The lad, believed to be in his late teens, averted a serious incident as the silver car was trapped inches from the track, with a train heading for Wokingham station. Eyewitness Francine Twitchett was walking into town to meet a friend on Tuesday just after 10am. She said: ^A young bespectacled lad on a skateboard who could see the predicament, and with great presence of mind without thought for his own safety, ran across the railway line and held up the gate so the driver could back away slowly to safety. The gate then fell down. ^The young lad picked up his skateboard and disappeared out of sight, having prevented not only possible injury but a terrible accident.^ Mrs Twitchett recalled: ^It was very frightening. The red lights were flashing and the gates were down, with one gate stuck on top of a car just inches away from the railway line. The traffic was backed up all the way down Barkham Road. The driver under the gate kept blowing his car horn as did others. Nothing happened. ^It was as though everyone was frozen in time.^ Mrs Twitchett, of nearby Barkham Road, was waiting to cross the track when she noticed the skateboarder heading down Station Road. She added: ^I felt cross with myself for not doing anything, but I didn^t know what to do. ^I wish I could have got his name but everything happened at once and nobody in any of the cars did anything. ^People say awful things about young people but he was very quick-thinking. The modest skateboard lad deserves a reward.^ Mrs Twitchett, who is in her 70s, said she was ^amazed^ nobody at the station appeared to see anything or came to help. She continued: ^After all the millions of pounds spent on the new Wokingham station, the least one could ask for is 24-hour CCTV on the level crossing, if only to catch people going across on red lights. This was indeed a close shave.^ A spokesman for South West Trains ^ Network Rail Alliance confirmed no incident was recorded or brought to staff^s attention. He added all level crossings have CCTV. Mrs Twitchett recalls the skateboarder wore glasses and a striped scarf. Do you know him? Email laura.miller@trinitymirror.com or call (0118) 918 3027. Don't know what she - and the reporter - think goes on in that shed with big windows next to the track! And as to the SWT-NRA comment, we should perhaps say we don't now what the question was. But there are a couple of operational questions - should such an incident be recorded by the signaller? And I thought that all four barriers had to be fully down before the interlock was cleared. It isn't clear to me what "trapped inches from the track" means, and how that can be the same as "stuck between the barriers". If the barrier was on top of a car's roof, rather than on its bonnet, it would be pretty close to the track. So it's hard to judge whether this was really a case where the rules say the car should be evacuated (however unnecessarily) or if it was always clearly safe. In either case, lifting a barrier that is not fully down is not in itself dangerous - but may be a criminal offence (if done without authorisation)! Again, it comes down to a question of whether the signal-box window has to serve as a public telephone for emergencies. Title: Re: Video of broken down vehicle on Wokingham Level Crossing Post by: Ollie on April 15, 2014, 19:56:19 Glad to see that some of the comments on the video are the same as what I was thinking... Put the phone away and go and help the guys clear the vehicle! But that is emphatically not what the highway code tells you to do - see Road works, level crossings and tramways (288 to 307) (https://www.gov.uk/road-works-level-crossings-tramways-288-to-307/level-crossings-291-to-299). True but the video does show the lights flashing with the barriers remaining in the upright position so I think it's safe to assume the signaller is aware. Admittedly in any case like this you would need to use your own judgement on what you feel is right at the time. In regard to the latest incident, the comment from SWT/NR confused me too, I'm surprised they didn't mention themselves that as the crossing is manned there would be no danger...if something did happen then that would of course have raised questions about the safe operation of the crossing. Title: Re: Video of broken down vehicle on Wokingham Level Crossing Post by: bobm on April 15, 2014, 22:20:07 I'm surprised that if the story is as published in the paper and a MOP (member of the public) did indeed raise the already lowered barrier, that it was not noted in Network Rail's logs as the signaller would have been on the point of checking the gates were closed and giving line clear and therefore watching the proceedings.
Some years back I had the privilege to visit that box and saw at first hand how tricky it can be to close the gates on occasions with traffic coming from all directions and frequently stopping on the crossing due to the road junction one side and the mini roundabout and pedestrian crossing the other. Title: Re: Video of broken down vehicle on Wokingham Level Crossing Post by: bobm on April 18, 2014, 09:26:06 An update from GetWokingham (http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/skater-who-freed-car-wokingham-7000769)
Quote (http://i4.getreading.co.uk/incoming/article7000813.ece/alternates/s615/JS35044022.jpg) David Maloy - helped rescue a car from the level crossing at Wokingham station, by lifting the barrier to let a car reserve back from being stuck. A skater who freed a car from a level crossing after the barriers came down insisted he is no hero. Dave Maloy came forward after The Wokingham Times story about a mystery hero skater went viral when it was posted to the paper^s website getwokingham.co.uk. He said he checked the tracks carefully before running across the closed level crossing at Wokingham train station to free the car stuck under the barriers on Tuesday, April 8. Despite the possible danger the 18-year-old former pupil of The Emmbrook said he^d do it again. Skateboarder urged to come forward after rescuing driver stuck at Wokingham level crossing He said: ^It was something anyone would do to help someone in trouble. ^I shouted at him to reverse, but he said he couldn^t as the barrier was stuck. ^When I looked at the car I thought I saw a kid strapped in the back. ^Everyone should do something to help others out. I don^t deserve a reward.^ He added: ^Cars get stuck there all the time. People are stupid and don^t wait until the tracks are clear and just drive across. ^I don^t think the crossing is dangerous, it^s just people not paying attention.^ Dave, who was skating home to Woosehill from St Crispin^s skate park, said: ^I was on the other side of the tracks. The barriers had come down and were on the top of a car.^ Drivers were beeping their horns to alert station workers to the possible disaster. Dave, who works at Tesco in Martins Heron, added: ^No-one was doing anything. ^I looked left and right and there was a train in the station but there wasn^t anything coming the other way so I jumped across and lifted the barrier. ^I didn^t think much of it and he drove off so I skated home.^ He added: ^I mentioned what happened to my girlfriend Leah [Deacon] and had totally forgotten about it until she told me said she^d seen the story on Facebook. All my friends were sharing it saying it was cool and asking if we knew who it was. ^I was surprised to have made the news. ^People think skaters and young people are up to no good, we have PCSOs visiting us regularly at the skate park and then this makes the front page. ^I was amazed at how big the story became, the Extreme channel shared it on its Facebook page so did a skate shop in Dorking.^ This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |