Another L/C Incident

[Coxster]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6323367.stm

One dead in train crossing crash

One teenager has been killed and two others have been badly injured after a train and car collided at a level crossing in northern Scotland.

The train travelling from Inverness to Wick and a Ford Fiesta were involved in the accident at the automatic Delny Level Crossing near Invergordon.

Northern Constabulary said the three 17-year-olds were cut free from the car after the collision at about 0815 GMT.

The two badly injured teenagers have been taken to hospital for treatment.

They were taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

One was taken by air ambulance and said to be giving cause for concern.

The second was taken to hospital by road.

One of the teenagers has since been transferred to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary by RAF helicopter.

Network Rail said the train, the 0714 GMT FirstScotrail service, was not derailed in the crash.

Cutting equipment

None of the 14 passengers was injured, and neither were four rail staff or the train driver on board. Passengers were transferred to coaches so they could continue their journey.

Spokeswoman Susie Haywood added: "It's not a very busy line, there's about one train an hour, and we're hoping disruption will be kept to a minimum."

Firefighters used cutting equipment to remove the trapped driver and passengers from the car.

The Delny crossing is at the brow of a hill about a quarter of a mile from the centre of the small coastal village.

Following the accident, the Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and politicians issued renewed calls for the removal of level crossings from public roads.

Bob Crow, from the RMT, said: "It is tragic that there has been another death and serious injuries in another collision between a train and a road vehicle at a level crossing.

"It is fortunate that the train was not derailed and that serious injury to the train's passengers and crew appears to have been avoided.

"Level crossings are a 19th century solution - in the 21st century it is high time for a commitment to separate rail and road traffic."

Jamie Stone, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, agreed, saying he was "uneasy" about such crossings.

He added: "At the end of the day, a barrier would ensure safety."

Local householder Mandy MacDonald said of the ungated junction: "My son delivered papers down there this morning and he said there was nothing left of the front of the car.

"I can't believe there's still no barrier at that crossing, just the warning lights."

British Transport Police will carry out an investigation into the incident.

The accident comes a month after an Inverness-Kyle train hit a car on a level crossing in Dingwall.

No-one was injured in the incident.

Network Rail has responsibility for almost 8,000 level crossings - more than 600 of them are in Scotland.

 

[yorkie]

"Level crossings are a 19th century solution - in the 21st century it is high time for a commitment to separate rail and road traffic."

If that was enforced, it would end up in the closure of the lines to Wick/Thurso, and many other lines. Would that improve safety by putting people onto roads instead? I think not.

Jamie Stone, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, agreed, saying he was "uneasy" about such crossings.

He added: "At the end of the day, a barrier would ensure safety."

Really? Barriers "ensure" safety do they, Mr Stone? Perhaps you can provide some evidence to suggest that, because I could supply plenty of examples where barriers did not "ensure" safety at all.

 

[adambro]

Of the 8,000 level crossings, how many are public? I'm not sure the RMT's view is realistic.

 

[devon_metro]

I imagine this means all level crossings should be banned.

 

[Coxster]

I imagine this means all level crossings should be banned.

NickW could solve this problem with the use of his precious...

 

[Tom]

Flyovers!

 

[Guinness]

Firstly, Condolences to the Family of fatally injured person.

Looking at the picture of the crossing I don't see any barriers. I know some Level Crossings don't have Barriers and the BBC haven't mentioned it anywhere in the article.

If this is the case then Bob Crow might be partially giving a point about unprotected crossings, without barriers. If he's talking about removing all crossings then this is unrealistic and very costly. I agree with removal of all crossings on High Speed Lines such as WCML and ECML as there is much much more danger to lives involved.

Wait for the RAIB report.

 

[Max]

Looking at the picture of the crossing I don't see any barriers. I know some Level Crossings don't have Barriers and the BBC haven't mentioned it anywhere in the article.

Local householder Mandy MacDonald said of the ungated junction: "My son delivered papers down there this morning and he said there was nothing left of the front of the car.

"I can't believe there's still no barrier at that crossing, just the warning lights."

Surely thats pretty clear Chaz!

This is another tragedy, but you have to say, there must be a good chance that the car was travelling at a pretty dangerous speed if it missed the flashing warning lights! There are some places where level crossings probably could be removed (at a large cost though), but there are others where this simply would not be possible, densely populated urban areas for example.

The Walton Street crossing in Hull is a dual carriageway level crossing which passes over the Hull-Scarborough line. At rush hours it is chaos, with very heavy road traffic and trains passing every 5-10 minutes. There have been many calls to have this crossing replaced with a flyover, but because of the positioning of housing and other buildings, there would be sufficient clearance to build embankments for flyovers on neither the road nor the railway. And I am sure there are hundreds of other examples of this.

 

[Guinness]

Surely thats pretty clear Chaz!

My mistake. I blame lack of sleep.

 

[Nick W]

uk.railway sources say that this crossing is open barrier with lights, as has been pointed out, with 55mph linespeed for DMUs.

I think this incident was one of stupidity rather than failing to see lights.

Thank goodness rail passeners are alright. My condolenses to those affected, by an avoidable accident.

The Walton Street crossing in Hull is a dual carriageway level crossing which passes over the Hull-Scarborough line. At rush hours it is chaos, with very heavy road traffic and trains passing every 5-10 minutes. There have been many calls to have this crossing replaced with a flyover, but because of the positioning of housing and other buildings, there would be sufficient clearance to build embankments for flyovers on neither the road nor the railway.

Why not have pillars going deep into the ground. What's the water table
like and how far is it underground to rock?

 

[Tom B]

Darwin Award...

 

[WessexWarrior]

That's an absolutely horrific picture to look at. The car is almost unrecognisable.

 

[Hentis]

Why is it that Network Rail get the blame for it. 95% of the time its the motorist to blame. Sorry if the driver of the car survived then he should be charged with 1 case of Manslaughter, but no he will get fned a slap on the wrist and told dont do it again.

Its not Network Rails fault if the stupid car driver decides to blow the lights and speed through them even though they are flashing. The signs are there, Stop when Red light shows. Its plain simple the lights show you stop. You dont you face the consequences. Simple as that.

Hentis

 

[Turbostar]

Here here. Unfortunately, drivers seem to don't understand that you try to beat the train, the train wins every time. The sooner drivers understand that the better.

Mart

 

[Dennis]

In principle, this acident is no worse than those everday occurances where motorists run through red lights at road traffic junctions. All this talk about barriers or replacing level crossings is nonsense - by the same logic, traffic lights should also be barrier controlled or eliminated.

In this instance, because of the small nmber of trains which run on the line, it does seem a trifle unlucky that there actually was one coming (although that's no excuse).

 

[Zamracene749]

We seem to be assuming that the motorist was reckless. Please bear in mind that visibility of any form of traffic lights can be very difficult in conditions of low winter sun, when lights can be either silhouetted when driving into the sun or the aspect 'washed out' when the sun shines straight onto the lights.
I speak from experience as a motorist with 20/20 vision- far higher than the requirement for a driving licence!
Further to this, the inherent design flaw with unbarriered crossings is that from the motorists point of view the crossing controls do not fail safe-ie no lights means safe to proceed. Thus if a driver is dazzled he/she might carry on assuming no light is lit, as opposed to a traffic light where you would not proceed unless you could see a green light.

 

[Dennis]

Further to this, the inherent design flaw with unbarriered crossings is that from the motorists point of view the crossing controls do not fail safe-ie no lights means safe to proceed. Thus if a driver is dazzled he/she might carry on assuming no light is lit, as opposed to a traffic light where you would not proceed unless you could see a green light.

Blimey - why aren't the H&S mullahs onto this. Never really thought about it before but now you mention it.........

Looking at the time of the accident and the orientation of the road, if the direction of travel was towards the SE (Barbaraville) then being dazzled by the sun would be a possibility although the sun would have been incredibly low (with a sunrise time of 8.19, the accident reportely occurred at ~8.15).

Having said that, if you can't see where you're going should you blither on regardless of the potential dangers ahead?

 

[paul1609]

If that was enforced, it would end up in the closure of the lines to Wick/Thurso, and many other lines. Would that improve safety by putting people onto roads instead? I think not.

I think that in reality all the locals have long since defected to road and the far north line is principally a job creation scheme to be honest. it certain no long furfills a public transport function following the building of the a9 bridges. the last time I used it in august 2005 there were a maximum of 4 passengers until we reached lairg. The conductor seemed to think that was a busy day!

 

[87015]

I think that in reality all the locals have long since defected to road and the far north line is principally a job creation scheme to be honest. it certain no long furfills a public transport function following the building of the a9 bridges. the last time I used it in august 2005 there were a maximum of 4 passengers until we reached lairg. The conductor seemed to think that was a busy day!

Actually, i disagree. In the summer at least the trains have got significantly busier in recent years, with the much improved frequency to Invergordon/Tain, coupled with Stagecoach cutting bus frequencies in the area.
Although the A9 has killed all serious Inverness-Wick traffic, more local journeys are being taken by train, plus a fair amount of tourist traffic.

Might not be wedging out 10 coaches, but goes to show better service=more passengers...

 

[darrel]

duh what does the red light mean? how thick are these motorists? if level crossing have to be removed simple answer close the road until the council pays for a bridge.

 

[Nick W]

duh what does the red light mean? how thick are these motorists? if level crossing have to be removed simple answer close the road until the council pays for a bridge.

In this world today, if a single pserson died due to ambulance not getting there in time due to diversion, who would be facing a court case?

 

[LucaZone]

its interesting to note, that a link on the article, leads to another one about cameras activated when someone jumps the lights on level crossings. In Scotland, they witnessed a 350% increase in people jumping level crossings when the lights were flashing, in just one year.

Proof positive that its a road user issue.


I seem to remember someone saying in another country they have mini wall type things that raise out of the road and act as the barrier when a train comes. Cant jump the lights if the road is blocked! Sounds like a great idea.

 

[devon_metro]

Yes, sharp pins would be a good idea...

 

[adambro]

The point about the level crossing not failing safe is a good one. Hadn't thought of that, seems bizarre that it works like that.