Great Western Coffee Shop

Why was 22nd August a significant day for the railways this year?

And in a similar vein, what made 19th November also a significant day?

 

19th November - Ebbsefleet international opened?

May have been, but it wasn't what I was thinking of, and I'd be very surprised if it was linked with 22nd August in any way.

Happy New Year to you, Fallen Angel!

Possibly some kind of dreadful privatisation anniversary which is probably best forgotten.

Or some TOC (what are they for?)  losing ECML franchise and renationalisation.

Well ... I took a guess and the event I was guessing at turned out to be on 5th June  :-\

Far from dreadful......

There was a hint in my last comment.

All good news,..... so you wouldn't expect to find it reported it in the press (though to be fair, I don't think they would have deliberately ignored a story - there just wasn't a story to tell).

Come on now, someone must have a guess at this.

 

I think bit more of a clue is needed, I'm lost on this one.

Hmm.  :-X

19 November this year was perhaps the passing of a milestone, such as 1,000 days since the last rail accident involving the death of a train passenger?

... and 22 August was ... ?

Well done Chris. You must have been researching that all night, as it's a bit obscure.

The 22nd August is in a very similar vein, so I'll leave you to ponder that for a bit.

Announcement of GWML electrification

Well, if we're looking for 'good news' stories - potential tragedies averted - how about the 22 August 'bridge collapse that could have been so much worse': see http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=5223 ?

Darn you to heck, Chris. I were looking through my posting history to see what might've been newsworthy on 22nd August 2009 - and I missed the story of the bridge collapse in Ireland. And to think I brought the story to a wider audience as well. With thanks to RailCornwall who brought it to my attention on another topic thread. I never did get to Ireland to travel on the Enterprise - maybe in 2010, now that the bridge has been fixed!

The bridge collapse happened on the 21st August.

Didnt the collapse happen on the 21st but was reported on the 22nd?

I did google and found the ireland collapse but I'm sure it happened the day before - I may be wrong as usual however

If 22nd November 2009 was 1000 days from the last fatal rail crash, what was the significance of 19th August 2009 on the same subject?

As a (sort of) aside, It's of note that the decade just ending will have seen the lowest number of fatal rail accidents, and almost certainly the lowest number of fatalities. And only one accident and one fatality in the last 5 years.  

Erm ... I thought the two dates were 22 August and 19 November?  :-X

Sorry.

I think given the lack of posts I'll better give the answer:-

The longest period between 2 fatal accidents was 911 days, (between Potters Bar and Ufton Nervert). This was breached on 22nd August, and so we are into "new territory" in terms of railway safety.

If we get as far as 23 Feb 10 then that will be 3 years - another notable date. 

With only 28 deaths this decade, compared with 53 the previous decade, and only 1 in the last 5 years,  that is a very impressive improvement.