Fatality on train at Twerton, sadly pronounced dead at Bristol Temple Meads (Dec 2018)

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the British Transport Police

http://media.btp.police.uk/r/16098/statement_-_fatality_at_bristol_temple_meads

01 Dec 2018 23:21

Statement - fatality at Bristol Temple Meads
We were called at around 10.10pm following a report a woman had received serious head injuries while travelling on a train between Bath and Keynsham.
 
Officers from British Transport Police attended along with colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police and South Western Ambulance Service but despite their best efforts, the woman died at the scene.
 
Our investigation remains at an early stage, but initial enquiries suggest the woman may have been leaning out of a window when she suffered a blow to the head.
 
Officers are currently working to confirm her identity and inform her next of kin.
 
We are continuing to investigate the circumstances of the incident, which has been reported to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch)).

The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.

[a-driver]

From the British Transport Police

http://media.btp.police.uk/r/16098/statement_-_fatality_at_bristol_temple_meads

01 Dec 2018 23:21

Statement - fatality at Bristol Temple Meads
We were called at around 10.10pm following a report a woman had received serious head injuries while travelling on a train between Bath and Keynsham.
 
Officers from British Transport Police attended along with colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police and South Western Ambulance Service but despite their best efforts, the woman died at the scene.
 
Our investigation remains at an early stage, but initial enquiries suggest the woman may have been leaning out of a window when she suffered a blow to the head.
 
Officers are currently working to confirm her identity and inform her next of kin.
 
We are continuing to investigate the circumstances of the incident, which has been reported to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch)).

The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.

So sad, especially so close to Christmas.  Must have been so hard for all the staff involved and those passengers onboard who witnessed it and tried to give the young lady medical assistance.

[grahame]

So sad, especially so close to Christmas.  Must have been so hard for all the staff involved and those passengers onboard who witnessed it and tried to give the young lady medical assistance.

Indeed ... some posts of stunned shock on my Facebook feed this morning. Words fail; they are not enough.

[grahame]

From Somerset Live

The age and address of a woman who died from a catastrophic blow to the head after she reportedly put her head out of a train window has been released by police.

British Transport Police has announced the victim, who was travelling on a train between Bath and Keynsham on Saturday night, was a 28-year-old woman from Penarth, which is a few miles south of Cardiff.

A spokesman for the BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) said she suffered serious head injuries.

Initial enquiries suggest the woman may have been leaning out of a window before being fatally injured.

[IndustryInsider]

Incredibly sad, and by no means the first time it has happened.  The quicker trains with fully opening windows are either modified or removed from the network the better.

[Dispatch Box]

Incredibly sad, and by no means the first time it has happened.  The quicker trains with fully opening windows are either modified or removed from the network the better.

According to BBC1 News tonight, it was thought her head caught a tree branch, was there no cctv on the train to view.

[IndustryInsider]

If it was a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) then there’s no CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) on board.  Is it being retro fitted to the Castle class fleet? 

[patch38]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-46619632

A woman who died after leaning out of the window of a moving train was hit by a tree or branch, an inquest has heard.

Bethan Roper, 28, was on her way home from a Christmas shopping trip with friends in Bath when she died on 1 December.

The charity worker, from Penarth in south Wales, suffered serious head injuries while travelling between Bath and Keynsham.

She was pronounced dead at Bristol Temple Meads station.

An inquest into her death was opened and adjourned at Avon Coroners' Court in Flax Bourton.

Miss Roper worked Welsh Refugee Council, having graduated from Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2013.

The charity, a sister organisation to the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)-wide Refugee Council, works to help asylum seekers and refugees in Wales.

She was also a campaigner and was chairman of Young Socialists Cardiff.

Last week her father Adrian said: "She was beautiful in every way. Our pain couldn't be sharper or more justified, but I know that her goodness and fullness of spirit will live on in our hearts and actions."

The inquest will resume on 20 March and investigations into the circumstances of her death continue.

The incident was reported to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch)).

British Transport Police and the Office of Rail and Road are also investigating.

[Phantom]

At around 22:04 hrs on 1 December 2018, a passenger travelling on a train from Bath to Bristol struck her head on a tree branch near to Twerton, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Bath Spa station. The train was travelling at about 85 mph (137 km/h) and the passenger sustained fatal injuries.

The train was the 20:30 Paddington to Exeter service formed of a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) High Speed Train (HST^▸ (High Speed Train)). Witness evidence indicates that the passenger was standing at a door on the side facing away from the other track. The door was fitted with an opening droplight window, which is used to access the door handle fitted to the outside of the door. A yellow ‘Caution’ label above the door states ‘Do not lean out of window when train is moving’. The window was reported to have been opened and the passenger had her head out of the window.

Our investigation will encompass examination of the measures in place to control the risks from persons leaning out of train windows, including the threat from vegetation.

Our investigation is independent of any investigation by the railway industry, the British Transport Police or by the industry’s regulator, the Office of Rail and Road.

We will publish our findings, including any recommendations to improve safety, at the conclusion of our investigation. This report will be available on our website.

[grahame]

At around 22:04 hrs on 1 December 2018, ...

Quoted from https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fatal-accident-twerton (I'm posting that to make it clear who "our" and "we" are in the text)

[Dispatch Box]

At around 22:04 hrs on 1 December 2018, ...

Quoted from https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fatal-accident-twerton (I'm posting that to make it clear who "our" and "we" are in the text)

The answer to this I would think graham is that the vegetation is kept back, plainly was not done outside bath, this was surely neglect on the part of network rail, I assume that they now have cleared the line.

[SandTEngineer]

I don't think we should be speculating on what will come out of the investigation.

[grahame]

I don't think we should be speculating on what will come out of the investigation.

Totally agreed / standard policy here  .

[Dispatch Box]

I don't think we should be speculating on what will come out of the investigation.

Have to wait and see.

[Rob on the hill]

I have noticed recently that new warning stickers have been applied on and around HST^▸ (High Speed Train) windows.