Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 10:15 20 Apr 2025
 
- Oldest serving US astronaut returns to Earth on 70th birthday
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 10/05/25 - BRTA Westbury
10/05/25 - Model Railsay Show, Calne
13/05/25 - Melksham TUG / AGM
14/05/25 - West Wiltshire RUG

On this day
20th Apr (1789)
Opening of Sapperton Canal Tunnel

Train RunningCancelled
08:58 Bristol Parkway to Swansea
09:05 Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff Central
09:35 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
09:55 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington
10:05 Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff Central
10:36 Paignton to London Paddington
10:49 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington
12:30 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
13:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
14:00 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon
15:09 Liskeard to Looe
15:29 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
15:40 Plymouth to Penzance
15:41 Looe to Liskeard
17:00 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington
17:09 Weston-Super-Mare to Severn Beach
17:16 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach
17:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
17:37 London Paddington to Swansea
17:48 Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth
18:00 Cardiff Central to Taunton
18:01 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads
18:15 Penzance to Plymouth
18:35 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads
19:43 Swindon to Westbury
20:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
20:09 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
20:11 Weymouth to Bristol Temple Meads
20:17 Taunton to Bristol Temple Meads
21:39 Bristol Temple Meads to Gloucester
22:45 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway
23:12 Bristol Temple Meads to Weston-Super-Mare
23:49 Weston-Super-Mare to Bristol Temple Meads
Short Run
07:59 Exeter St Davids to Cardiff Central
08:01 Weymouth to Cardiff Central
08:15 Penzance to London Paddington
08:47 Penzance to Cardiff Central
09:07 Swindon to London Paddington
09:09 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
09:22 Bristol Temple Meads to Portsmouth Harbour
09:46 Exeter St Davids to Cardiff Central
10:00 Cardiff Central to Taunton
10:25 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
10:55 Cardiff Central to Penzance
10:57 Paignton to Exmouth
11:41 Swindon to Weymouth
11:50 Penzance to Cardiff Central
11:57 Cardiff Central to Exeter St Davids
12:26 Exmouth to Paignton
13:16 Taunton to Cardiff Central
13:25 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
14:09 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
15:00 Cardiff Central to Penzance
15:35 Severn Beach to Weston-Super-Mare
16:18 Penzance to London Paddington
16:25 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
18:00 London Paddington to Penzance
18:11 Castle Cary to Swindon
19:39 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Shrub Hill
20:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
20:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
21:57 Worcester Shrub Hill to Bristol Temple Meads
etc
PollsThere are no open or recent polls
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
April 20, 2025, 10:16:35 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[109] Fortuitous connections ... and an App which fails to offer the...
[85] RNLI station celebrates 10 years of saving lives - Portishead,...
[79] FOSS and FOSW validity - some quirks
[78] St Erth station - facilities, footbridge, improvements, incide...
[59] Fifteen years of the Transwilts CRP
[52] Wiltshire Day Rover - new multi-operator bus ticket
 
News: A forum for passengers ... with input from rail professionals welcomed too
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Serious accident at West Wickham station - 10 April 2015 - RAIB report published  (Read 2202 times)
Chris from Nailsea
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 19554



View Profile Email
« on: February 29, 2016, 19:13:54 »

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has now published its report into this incident:

Quote
Serious accident at West Wickham station

Serious accident as a passenger left a train and became trapped in the train doors at West Wickham station 10 April 2015.

At around 11:35 hrs on 10 April 2015, a passenger was dragged along the platform at West Wickham station, south London, when the 11:00 hrs Southeastern service from London Cannon Street to Hayes (Kent) departed while her backpack strap was trapped in the doors of the train. As it moved off, she fell onto the platform and then through the gap between the platform and train, suffering life-changing injuries.

The backpack strap became trapped when the train doors closed unexpectedly and quickly while she was alighting. Testing showed that this potentially unsafe situation could only occur when a passenger pressed a door-open button, illuminated to show it was available for use, within a period of less than one second beginning shortly after the train driver initiated the door closure sequence.

RAIB (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) identified this door behaviour, which was not known to the owner or operator, and issued urgent safety advice. In response to this, the railway industry undertook a review which identified 21 other types of train that permit passenger doors to be opened for a short period after door closure is initiated by train crew. The industry is now seeking ways to deal with this risk.

The train was being driven by a trainee driver under the supervision of an instructor. The service was driver only operation, which meant that before leaving West Wickham station, and after all train doors were closed, drivers were required to check that it was safe to depart by viewing CCTV (Closed Circuit Tele-Vision) monitors located on the platform. Two of these monitor images showed that a passenger appeared to be trapped but, although visible from the driving cab, neither the trainee driver nor the instructor was aware of this. Although the RAIB has not been able to establish why the trapped passenger was not seen before the train departed, a number of possible explanations have been identified.

As a result of this accident, RAIB has made two recommendations. The first, addressed to operators and owners of trains with power operated doors, is intended to identify and correct all train door control systems exhibiting the unsafe characteristics found during this investigation. The second, addressed to RSSB (Rail Safety and Standards Board), seeks changes to guidance documents so that, where practicable, staff dispatching trains watch the train doors while they are closing, in addition to checking the doors after they are closed.

RAIB has also identified five learning points relating to: releasing train doors long enough to allow passengers to get on and off trains safely; effective checking of train doors before trains depart (and not relying on the door interlock light); design of door controls; and use of train driving simulators to raise drivers^ awareness of circumstances when it is not safe to depart from a station.
Logged

William Huskisson MP (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post - a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London, depending on context) was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830.  Many more have died in the same way since then.  Don't take a chance: Stop, Look, Listen.

"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner."  Discuss.
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the 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 the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules via admin@railcustomer.info. Full legal statement (here).

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page