Boy dies after being hit by a train

[D306]

this isn't a very nice story.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/6959749.stm

Boy dies after being hit by train
A teenage boy has died after being hit by a train, and another has suffered electric shock injuries, in an incident at a Kent railway station.
British Transport Police said the incident happened at Shoreham, at about 2200 BST on Wednesday.

The death of the 16-year-old boy, who has not yet been named, is being treated as "unexplained" and an investigation is under way.

The injured boy, also 16, was treated in hospital and has been released.

British Transport police said

One of the teenagers managed to move away - the other was struck by the train

Officers said the boy who died was struck by a train which had been travelling from London to Sevenoaks.

Ambulance crews were called to the scene but the teenager was declared dead.

A police spokeswoman said the train entered the station at 20mph and the driver saw two youths on the line, who appeared to be part of a larger group on the station platform.

"One of the teenagers managed to move away - the other was struck by the train," she said.

A post-mortem examination is due to take place on Thursday.

 

[devon_metro]

Well its their fault for being on the line!

 

[Jord]

I agree with Liam, All of these cases go to court but how can it possible be the drivers fault? he cannot steer towards them or nothing, It just causes serious harm to the driver and almost certain death to the people that tresspass on the line.

 

[Max]

(sorry for the typo in the thread name)

Sorted

This is pretty awful, but they obviously shouldn't have been messing on the line. It will always end in tears.

 

[me123]

As said before, this is why railway lines are dangerous. It baffles me why people choose to play on them in such a manner (although, in this case, they could have fallen on the track and were attempting to return to the platform).

I hope the family and friends are dealing with this tragedy well.

 

[richa2002]

As said before, this is why railway lines are dangerous. It baffles me why people choose to play on them in such a manner (although, in this case, they could have fallen on the track and were attempting to return to the platform).

I hope the family and friends are dealing with this tragedy well.

They were most probably drunk and in the 'you only live once' mindset.

 

[Daniel]

As my mother said, "I wonder if they'll be prosecuted..."

Next thing that will happen is you'll get some grieving parent on the news saying how the fences should be higher...

 

[devon_metro]

How about PEDs?

 

[Coxster]

How about PEDs?

They would only work on lines where only one type of train is used so that the doors line up.

 

[D306]

trains to sevenoaks are mixed traction, and as coxster already said, they would only work woth one type of train.

 

[richa2002]

Stupid idea.

 

[Tom B]

Furthermore it would limit you when you try to build a new train type.

Stupid fools - their own fault for being on the line. And if they use the drunk excuse, don't bloody get drunk in the first place. IMO their family should pay compensation to the driver and railway.

 

[me123]

Don't entirely agree, TomB. if the railway want the money, they should get it from the guy's own pocket. He's 16 years old, and he'll have to pay up himself if you ask me. as a fellow 16yo, I would pay the compensation myself if I had survived this.

And, if they use the drunk excuse, it's clearly underage drinking, anti-social behaviour, d&d etc, so just send them (the survivors) to the slammer.

 

[Tom B]

Isn't he dead? Well, out of his assets then.

 

[AlexS]

Being a mere 18 years old, and that's older than some of the would be policy makers and law men on this thread, and rather lacking in life experience here, I don't tend to judge how people should deal with such incidents.

However it strikes me as 1. giving a grieving family a bill for thousands of pounds that could cripple them is not what we do in civilised society and 2. I believe the youngsters concerned have suffered enough in punishment in terms of having their mate smashed to pieces in front of them and am fairly sure they won't be doing it again, chav or not. what does taking them to court prove.

 

[dan_atki]

Being a mere 18 years old, and that's older than some of the would be policy makers and law men on this thread, and rather lacking in life experience here, I don't tend to judge how people should deal with such incidents.

However it strikes me as 1. giving a grieving family a bill for thousands of pounds that could cripple them is not what we do in civilised society and 2. I believe the youngsters concerned have suffered enough in punishment in terms of having their mate smashed to pieces in front of them and am fairly sure they won't be doing it again, chav or not. what does taking them to court prove.

Well said Alex - I totally agree with you here.

The guy was 16, he was old enough to make his own decisions (as the law would say) and giving the family a bill won't solve anything at all and would just make the situation worse, especially as they aren't really responsible for it and have lost their son/brother/nephew/grandson etc.

After seeing that happen, I'm also sure they won't be trespassing on the railway again. It's just that they had to learn how dangerous railways are the hard way instead of thinking about their actions in the first place.

Taking them to court proves nothing at all as Alex has said, and the way to stop incidents like this happening is raising awareness and I don't mean with notices - I mean graphically as in videos (obviously with the family's permission). I don't know if you have seen the Bletchley near miss on YouTube but that's the kind of thing I mean - anyone who sees that and still trespasses on railway lines is...... well, stupid, to put it bluntly.

That video in particular demonstrates that railways can be fatal at ALL times, and instead of having it shown to staff who are training, it should be part of compulsory school viewing if you ask me.

Quoted from the railway byelaws:

No person in a state of intoxication shall enter or remain upon the railway and no person who is in an unfit or improper condition to travel by passenger train or whose dress or clothing is in a condition liable to soil or injure the linings or cushions of any carriage, or the dress or clothing of any passenger, shall enter or remain in any lift or vehicle. Provided that no person shall be prevented from entering, or remaining in or on any lift or vehicle under the provisions of this Byelaw on the ground of the condition of his or her dress or clothing, when he or she so enters or remains in or on the lift or vehicle with the permission of an authorised person, or when the vehicle is specially provided or set apart for workmen.

Showing that people under the influence of alcohol are not actually allowed to travel on trains (although I don't know why alcohol is sold on trains :??? but railway byelaws are 'outdated' and never acted upon - I've seen one case where they were - and that was on Rail Cops where a guy went down the 'up' escalator at BHM.

On the PED idea, as stated above it wouldn't really work, but those on the JLE cost £1m a platform. Thinking about how many platforms there are in Britain anyway, where would all the money come from for such an implementation?

When people find other ways of getting in a track anyway (i.e. level crossings and over fences) what would happen then? Would the railway need to be completely self contained except at stations? The idea is completely impractical and if someone really does want to trespass on a line then they will find a way to get there.

 

[TheSlash]

I believe the youngsters concerned have suffered enough in punishment in terms of having their mate smashed to pieces in front of them

I don't think that level of description is needed, thanks.

 

[AlexS]

I think it is - too many people in here are in 'rant roar railways' mode with visions of these people swaggering around without a care in the world after this, when the reality in fact, I'd bet quite a lot, is very different.

 

[Broken Viking]

Hail All!
This kind of talk always comes up following such an incident, so I won't be discussing this specifically, other than to ask:
Is it possible that the person in question accidentally fell/stumbled off of the platform, and his mate(s) jumped down to try and lift him back onto the platform when the train arrived?

This reminds me of an odd incident that I witnessed at Woking about a month ago (31st July I think). I was having a chat with the stationmaster outside his office on platform 2 when a London-bound 444 arrived. A bunch of people were messing about on the platform when one of them either jumped or fell between the train and the platform.

Thankfully I managed to alert the train's guard who was nearby, so the train didn't move off with someone underneath it...However, the person who was in the cess was pretty lucky that the third rail wasn't on that side, and that he hadn't jumped down near a contact shoe! :eek:

On the subject of platform edge doors (PEDs) for mainline stations: The whole concept is pretty much flawed due partly to cost and mainly to technical constraints, as people have already identified. The other problem is that full-height PEDs would look completely out of place on any uncanopied platform anyway.
At a station like Birmingham New St (With high passenger numbers and comparitively little platform space in rush hours) PEDs wouldn't look out of place and would improve the safety factor of the station. However, the same equipment installed on more or less "open air" platforms such as at Fleet or Tamworth would look totally disjoint. :eek:

One solution could be to use the 3'6" high pedestrian barriers often used on busy roads and near pedestrian crossings (Platform edge gates - PEGs) with powered gates built in, not that this addresses the technical issues at all. The much bigger problem with PEDs/PEGs however is that if someone does somehow wind up on the track, they cannot use the platform as a quick means of escape as the PED/PEG system would block their way. They'd have to run to beyond the end of the platform to get out of the loading guage of any rapidly approaching train.

Farewell...
>> Death <<

 

[westcoaster]

Hail All!
This kind of talk always comes up following such an incident, so I won't be discussing this specifically, other than to ask:
Is it possible that the person in question accidentally fell/stumbled off of the platform, and his mate(s) jumped down to try and lift him back onto the platform when the train arrived?

This reminds me of an odd incident that I witnessed at Woking about a month ago (31st July I think). I was having a chat with the stationmaster outside his office on platform 2 when a London-bound 444 arrived. A bunch of people were messing about on the platform when one of them either jumped or fell between the train and the platform.

Thankfully I managed to alert the train's guard who was nearby, so the train didn't move off with someone underneath it...However, the person who was in the cess was pretty lucky that the third rail wasn't on that side, and that he hadn't jumped down near a contact shoe! :eek:

On the subject of platform edge doors (PEDs) for mainline stations: The whole concept is pretty much flawed due partly to cost and mainly to technical constraints, as people have already identified. The other problem is that full-height PEDs would look completely out of place on any uncanopied platform anyway.
At a station like Birmingham New St (With high passenger numbers and comparitively little platform space in rush hours) PEDs wouldn't look out of place and would improve the safety factor of the station. However, the same equipment installed on more or less "open air" platforms such as at Fleet or Tamworth would look totally disjoint. :eek:

One solution could be to use the 3'6" high pedestrian barriers often used on busy roads and near pedestrian crossings (Platform edge gates - PEGs) with powered gates built in, not that this addresses the technical issues at all. The much bigger problem with PEDs/PEGs however is that if someone does somehow wind up on the track, they cannot use the platform as a quick means of escape as the PED/PEG system would block their way. They'd have to run to beyond the end of the platform to get out of the loading guage of any rapidly approaching train.

Farewell...
>> Death <<

with the new st idea it would not work because all trains that use it have different door aliignments some 2/3rd's some at coach ends so would not line up

 

[Juniper Driver]

Thankfully I managed to alert the train's guard who was nearby, so the train didn't move off with someone underneath it...However, the person who was in the cess was pretty lucky that the third rail wasn't on that side, and that he hadn't jumped down near a contact shoe!

The third rail is never platform side at a station.Kids do tend to muck about though.I have seen many gangs farting about on my trains and at stations.This sort of thing happens all the time with the normal one of standing at the edge of the platform.They don't try it at Woking when I go through at 100mph.

 

[paul1609]

Thankfully I managed to alert the train's guard who was nearby, so the train didn't move off with someone underneath it...However, the person who was in the cess was pretty lucky that the third rail wasn't on that side, and that he hadn't jumped down near a contact shoe!

The third rail is never platform side at a station.Kids do tend to muck about though.I have seen many gangs farting about on my trains and at stations.This sort of thing happens all the time with the normal one of standing at the edge of the platform.They don't try it at Woking when I go through at 100mph.

The third rail is not normally on the platform side at stations but there are plenty of places where it is.
I thought the speed limit through Woking was 90 mph?

 

[Mojo]

There was a plan around a few years ago when the government suggested banning alcohol from being consumed on the railways (an easy task for the TOCs to do under the present byelaws). However, this was met with anger from some sections and the plan was quietly dropped.

With recent murders, the idea has been brought around again to ban the consumption of alcohol in all outdoor public places - powers which a small number of councils have also used - and could be used anywhere easily.

Selling alcohol to someone who is drunk is illegal. I've heard of a complaint made about Virgin Trains on another forum, where a customer threatened to report VT for selling alcohol to a drunk mob on the train, because the on-board team wouldn't do anything about it. Make your own minds up.

 

[TheSlash]

The third rail is not normally on the platform side at stations but there are plenty of places where it is.
I thought the speed limit through Woking was 90 mph?

Even thats a struggle with Woking jct and Woking box

 

[Broken Viking]

Hail All!

The third rail is not normally on the platform side at stations but there are plenty of places where it is.

Platform 7 at Guildford...Need I say more?

...But my bigger concern was more if the person in question had come into contact with the TRE shoe on the platform side of the train. As the shoes on both sides would feed in to the same busbar, the shoe on the "dead" side would still be live - And 750V DC at well over 50KA isn't exactly healthy, if I remember my electrical theory correctly... :eek:

This sort of thing happens all the time with the normal one of standing at the edge of the platform.

I must admit that this is something I would do for the pull of the turbulance and the adrenaline rush, but only if it was safe to do so.
The closest that I get to doing something like that is standing right behind the yellow line or the rear edge of the platform tiles, whichever is further back - And further away still (Minimum 2m) if the train in question is passing through very fast.

If only there was a place where one could stand close to a rapidly passing train as above in complete safety...
(Hmmm...I wonder if Platform 3 at Woking would fit the bill? )

I thought the speed limit through Woking was 90 mph?

Even thats a struggle with Woking jct and Woking box

Hmmm...I reckon that a 370, 373 or 390 could easily manage 120mph straight through that junction safely, or 60mph (90mph in the case of the 370) if the road was set towards Guildford.

...But then I am a known speed freak, too. No wonder SWT wouldn't consider me for a drivers position! :toothy10:

Farewell...
>> Death <<

 

[TheSlash]

I think it is - too many people in here are in 'rant roar railways' mode with visions of these people swaggering around without a care in the world after this, when the reality in fact, I'd bet quite a lot, is very different.

Ok then, hands up if you have been to the scene of a fatality? *raises hand*
Hands up if you have been underneath a train {inspection pit} after it has run someone over? *raises hand*
Looking abit one sided so far...

 

[Tom]

I've certainly witnessed someone getting whacked (to put it nicely ...) by a Desiro at 90mph... not a pretty sight ...

 

[nath9425]

I've certainly witnessed someone getting whacked (to put it nicely ...) by a Desiro at 90mph... not a pretty sight ...

hock: Poor you...I bet you was traumatised after that for life! Thats why he know hates desiros :neutral: