Passengers help to get trains moving

[whole diary]

[Btline]

Passengers clambered down onto the tracks today to help staff clear a fallen tree of a rail line in Warwickshire. This occurred on a day when Network Rail were stretched to the limit as trees came crashing down across the region.

As a result of the passengers actions, the line was re-opened after only 40 minutes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-16422955?

[ChrisB]

I'm surprised that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) didn't insist on checking for themselves that there wasn't any damage to their rails / equipment before services were allowed to resume.

Also, it's reasonably easy to alight from a train not at a platform - I wonder how they all got back onboard?

[grahame]

I note that the incident happened at Wood End 

[inspector_blakey]

I'm surprised that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) didn't insist on checking for themselves that there wasn't any damage to their rails / equipment before services were allowed to resume.

Also, it's reasonably easy to alight from a train not at a platform - I wonder how they all got back onboard?

Possibly there was an NR mobile operations manager on scene directing operations, otherwise maybe it was a commendable piece of pragmatism by a controller somewhere who was prepared to trust the judgement of the train crew that the problem had been fully dealt with.

If you're hale and hearty enough to climb down out of a train it's not that much more difficult getting back up again, and guards'/drivers' doors are provided with steps and grab rails for this reason so assuming it was only a few passengers I doubt there would have been any trouble getting back on-board.

[Chris from Nailsea]

There's also the option of deploying the emergency ladders to aid re-boarding if necessary. 

[vacman]

also an incident at four OAKS!   

[EBrown]

Passengers clambered down onto the tracks today to help staff clear a fallen tree of a rail line in Warwickshire. This occurred on a day when Network Rail were stretched to the limit as trees came crashing down across the region.

As a result of the passengers actions, the line was re-opened after only 40 minutes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-16422955?

Where does it say the emphasised part in the article. I am struggling to find it.

[paul7575]

It isn't unusual for the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) to edit a story without changing the URL, unfortunately.  It's probably been fixed updated... 

Paul

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm. 

Btline: were you quoting verbatim from that particular BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) news item, in your original post?

That BBC news item itself is marked as

5 January 2012 Last updated at 21:11

- some time after Btline's original post. 

[paul7575]

Googling 'rail passengers remove tree' suggests the story was definitely live at some stage - as far as the results page goes, there are a couple of local news sites appearing to cross reference to the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) site, none of which seems to make sense now...

[Brucey]

I certainly read a story on the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) website where it was suggested that passengers did indeed help move trees.  I'm not sure whether it was this article or a different one.

[Btline]

It was not a quote, but the article headline was something "along the lines of" what I wrote. The article made a specific reference to passengers helping.

Perhaps the managers have slammed the decision, and London Midland want to minimise people reading it. Otherwise we'll have people prising the doors open every time a train slows down!

[Chris from Nailsea]

Fair enough.

Were those fallen trees AXED to clear them from the tracks, by any chance?

CfN. 

[Btline]

 

I expect NR^» (Network Rail - home page) will be getting the chainsaws out to that line to prevent it happening again! The "Four Oaks", may become three... or none!

Reminds me of that article you posted a while back Chris about Network Rail axing all those trees in North London - now we know why it has to be done.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Yes ... on a rather more serious note, that thought had occurred to me as well.

It's all very well for some people to 'hug trees' on railway embankments or cuttings to prevent them from being felled - but when those trees show their gratitude by shedding their leaves or even collapsing altogether onto the railway line, there's a public outcry about the train delays caused ...