Level crossing safety plea after man's death as car is struck by train
Rail unions last night called for level crossings to be phased out in the wake of a man dying after apparently driving through a closing barrier and being struck by a high-speed train in Somerset.
It happened shortly before 6.30am on the Stanmoor Road crossing near Athelney between Taunton and Castle Cary. Train staff, including the driver, say the half barrier was already closing when the red vehicle came onto the tracks.
The car was trapped under the 05.46 service from Exeter to London Paddington and was shunted half a mile down the track.
None of the 37 passengers and eight members of staff on board were injured but the two drivers in the cab were said to be “very distressed”. One person inside the car, believed to be the male driver, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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RMT transport union general secretary Bob Crow said: ‘‘This latest, shocking fatality will once again shine the spotlight on safety issues at level crossings. RMT has been campaigning for many years to speed up the phasing-out of level crossings, which are a 19th-century solution in an age of high-speed railways.
“Wherever road and track come together there is a clear and present danger and as we see far too often it is a lethal combination and the time has come to get serious about addressing this issue – cost should not override public and staff safety.”
Network Rail said it was treating the incident as “non- suspicious“, with the focus of the accident investigation on the actions of the driver and not the workings of the crossing.
It said the barrier of the crossing was lowered at the time of the crash and the driver is believed to have had to weave around them in order to cross.
Aaron Mead, who lives about 100 yards from the crossing, said: “We heard an almighty bang in the early hours of this morning. A couple of pictures on the bedside table fell over.
“I didn’t think anything of it to be honest, and then before we knew it we had endless amounts of sirens, police cars, fire engines and ambulances bombing up and down the road. It made me jump out of bed quite quickly.”
James Hector, owner of Willowbank Services less than a mile from the scene, said the barriers close very quickly.
“It’s a very fast crossing,” he said. “Once the barriers go down the train is there within 30 seconds.
“They are half-road barriers so it would be possible to drive around them.”
The train involved in the accident returned to Taunton station at lunchtime, where the passengers were finally allowed to disembark after a traumatic six hours.
Fire, police and ambulance crews were already at the station to help the badly shaken-up passengers and train crew.
The majority of the passengers were directed on to another service to Cardiff, which was calling at Bristol.
Stuart Lambert, a passenger on the train, was on his way to London for a training course when the tragedy happened.
The teacher, 37, from Taunton, said: “I was sitting at the back of the train, just dozing, when I felt a shudder and the brakes slam on.
“The train came to a controlled stop some distance later, where the announcer told us that someone had jumped the level crossing.
“We were told to move to the front of the train, where they kept us calm and refreshed, and kept everyone well informed.”
The eight-carriage train returned to Taunton at around noon, almost six hours after the fatal collision.
Stuart added: “A lot of people were shaken up, understandably, but the staff were absolutely brilliant and kept everyone calm and comfortable.”
A spokesman for Network Rail said: “The incident was reported at 6.26am.
“The train driver and First Great Western staff have given a statement to British Transport Police that the barriers were lowered and the car was seen to drive onto the crossing.
“BTP report the crime scene has been deemed non-suspicious.”
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WHERE IT HAPPENED
5 Comments
by UK2CA
Sunday, April 07 2013, 11:15PM
“I lived in Curload/Athelney for 16 years and knew Dennis (the victim) well during my time there. He was a fine fellow and will be missed.
While Dennis was obviously at fault for ignoring the signals and taking advantage of the half-road barriers, it was sadly inevitable that something like this was going to happen. Human nature dictates, especially when someone is used to a situation, that they will take risks such as this. Dennis was certainly used to this having lived in the area for 20+ years and crossed that crossing almost certainly twice or perhaps more a day.
All the rail company had to do to prevent this was to retain the full gate to prevent people taking advantage so much. Why they switched to the half gate system I suspect must have been due to some cost\risk analysis. But I cant imagine extending the barrier by 10ft could really have cost that much more??
Fault must lie with both parties unfortunately. It's just such a shame this happened, regardless.”
by bruce07
Sunday, March 24 2013, 8:13AM
“Two things:
First - the barriers are not substantial enough such that when closing or closed, vehicles cannot pass. The old level crossing gates made it impossible for a car to cross when the gates were closed.
Second - what about even higher train speeds. Do we need them and do they pose an unnecessary additional risk to cars and pedestrians for the sake of image and a few minutes off a journey?
The increasing number of accidents at these crossings show that they are not safe even if the blame can be attributed to barrier jumpers, the very ones who get killed or injured.”
by siarad2
Saturday, March 23 2013, 6:49PM
“The simplest & obvious solution is complete barriers i.e. four, to prevent dodging by lunatic drivers. I well remember when we had four substantial gates.
Having said that they don't always work. I was crossing a line & saw a train about 100 yards away coming at me. People were killed in this way a couple of years later & apparently complaints had been going on for at least five years over this intermittent defect but nothing was done.
Commiserations to friends & family”
by nickthompson
Saturday, March 23 2013, 11:52AM
“Following this incident, and the recent tragic deaths of a mother leaping in front of a train with her young son, I wonder if Daily Mail readers will still complain of train driver's earning £50,000 a year, I would not do their job for a million pounds a year.”
by mazzaknight
Friday, March 22 2013, 6:22PM
“So the rail union want to phase out level crossings because they are dangerous. Bob Crow's knee must be aching with all the knee-jerk reactions it has to contend with. Looked at properly and logically, a level crossing barrier is neither safe or dangerous. It is a safety tool that only has problems if it is broken or abused. If it is broken, fix it. If it is abused then the abuser is the problem. I know that a driver has a responsibility for his or her own safety and the safety of the vehicle and any passengers or goods on board. During my 2.000.000 miles of professional driving, I have come across a number of incidents at Level crossings and every one of them was down to driver stupidity or a lack of driving awareness. Fortunately, only two of those incidents involved accidents and neither was fatal. Using level crossings is dangerous when drivers use them incorrectly. Common sense and logic say that flashing red lights with an alarm going off and a barrier coming down all mean danger. When you are driving or riding any vehicle, that means slow down and stop if necessary. Triangular road signs warn of possible dangers, so ease of the accelerator and be prepared to slow down or stop. Your safety is your responsibility, nobody else's. I may not agree with the driver's actions but my condolences go out to the driver's family and friends.”