Fatality at Wrenbury

[All Line Rover]

I'm surprised at this one, considering Wrenbury is so remote. If the incident happened at the station itself the individual would probably have been the only person there. In which case I would wonder whether the CCTV is being monitored for people hanging around on the platforms well before any passenger train is due to call?

 

[PHILIPE]

I'm surprised at this one, considering Wrenbury is so remote. If the incident happened at the station itself the individual would probably have been the only person there. In which case I would wonder whether the CCTV is being monitored for people hanging around on the platforms well before any passenger train is due to call?

Nobody has reported this to the Forum so how did you find out ? You are right, it did happen.
Fatalities occur anywhere not necessarily at a station. I don't know if CCTV is installed there, but as a station with a level crossing, probably is. Who is going to sit somewhere to watch out for people all the time.

 

[miami]

Nobody has reported this to the Forum so how did you find out ? You are right, it did happen.
Fatalities occur anywhere not necessarily at a station. I don't know if CCTV is installed there, but as a station with a level crossing, probably is. Who is going to sit somewhere to watch out for people all the time.

Other news sources are available, such as
http://thenantwichnews.co.uk/2016/10/09/rail-delays-person-hit-train-wrenbury/

Rail services were delayed today after a person was hit by a train at Wrenbury, near Nantwich.

Services between Shrewsbury and Manchester were disrupted until this afternoon after the incident earlier today.

There are several crossings on that line, including 2 foot+farm ones within 300m of my house. I think there's 4 between Nantwich and wrenbury, plus the gated road ones.

 

[craigybagel]

It didn't take place at the station, or indeed at any of the crossings.

 

[LowLevel]

It's sad but rural locations are by no means immune - sleepy Heckington and Rauceby in Lincolnshire, on the extremely slow and meandering Skegness line have both seen fatalities in the last couple of years.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Thoughts with family and the driver and crew involved.

I don't know if CCTV is installed there, but as a station with a level crossing, probably is. Who is going to sit somewhere to watch out for people all the time.

Well that wouldn't be hard to do, simple motion sensor technology could flash up when people are on a station outside of running times for a central observer to check what they are up to.

While it would help detect vandalism and criminal activity, it would be rather meaningless to detect suicide as obviously they will be present when a train is due.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I do sometimes think that the forum would benefit from NOT reporting these issues which are obviously gleaned from the National Rail Information website.

Does it really add value.?

 

[tsr]

Who is going to sit somewhere to watch out for people all the time.

Well that wouldn't be hard to do, simple motion sensor technology could flash up when people are on a station outside of running times for a central observer to check what they are up to.

While it would help detect vandalism and criminal activity, it would be rather meaningless to detect suicide as obviously they will be present when a train is due.

TOCs generally have CCTV monitoring and profiling teams and I've known them to pick up on people loitering within extremely short spaces of time (not to mention station staff, where applicable, using their own systems). With my passenger hat on, the best example I know of is when I once spent just 2 or 3 minutes fiddling around with an awkward suitcase on the platform of a tiny Marston Vale station, after being the only passenger alighting, and in that time somebody had thought to swivel various cameras round and I had about 3 of them trained on me. This level of observation happens all over the place and various software systems are also either available or in production to pick up both suspicious and suicidal behaviour. However, things still slip through the net and it's much less likely that someone who wanders down the track (reading between the lines, perhaps that could be what happened here) will be picked up, because it is not practical to also have cameras on every metre of railway line between stations.

 

[Emblematic]

TOCs generally have CCTV monitoring and profiling teams and I've known them to pick up on people loitering within extremely short spaces of time (not to mention station staff, where applicable, using their own systems). With my passenger hat on, the best example I know of is when I once spent just 2 or 3 minutes fiddling around with an awkward suitcase on the platform of a tiny Marston Vale station, after being the only passenger alighting, and in that time somebody had thought to swivel various cameras round and I had about 3 of them trained on me. This level of observation happens all over the place and various software systems are also either available or in production to pick up both suspicious and suicidal behaviour.

It's almost universal that CCTV systems will select which cameras are presented to the operator based on movement, and many will pan and zoom cameras based on movement detection. We have a such a system where I live, it's entertaining watching it track people around the building - all fully automatic, no operator control needed (and very often none present.) So Big Brother wasn't necessarily watching you - just the system recording the most relevant view.

 

[tsr]

It's almost universal that CCTV systems will select which cameras are presented to the operator based on movement, and many will pan and zoom cameras based on movement detection. We have a such a system where I live, it's entertaining watching it track people around the building - all fully automatic, no operator control needed (and very often none present.) So Big Brother wasn't necessarily watching you - just the system recording the most relevant view.

Then who turned the lights up and rang the help point?

(FWIW you'll find surprisingly few motion detection systems activated on station CCTV in my area, as it tends to get confused by normal passenger flows, and, y'know, trains, or cars in the car park. However, you'll find surprising amounts of people watching it. Can't really say too much more.)

 

[Emblematic]

Then who turned the lights up and rang the help point?

(FWIW you'll find surprisingly few motion detection systems activated on station CCTV in my area, as it tends to get confused by normal passenger flows, and, y'know, trains, or cars in the car park. However, you'll find surprising amounts of people watching it. Can't really say too much more.)

Good point - but I suspect that my building is rather busier than most of the Marston Vale stations! Presumably they turned the lights up just to be helpful.

 

[All Line Rover]

My reason for asking about this incident was not for specific details, but because accessing Wrenbury station (let alone one of the nearby fields) would involve a lengthy course of conduct rather than a spur-of-the-moment act, which is what one usually thinks of when a suicide occurs. I also found it unusual that it occurred on a Sunday morning. There are few trains on that line at that time, which seems at odds with there being a lengthy course of conduct.

Suicides are not pleasant but they are not classified and ignoring them is not going to improve anything.

 

[craigybagel]

My reason for asking about this incident was not for specific details, but because accessing Wrenbury station (let alone one of the nearby fields) would involve a lengthy course of conduct rather than a spur-of-the-moment act, which is what one usually thinks of when a suicide occurs. I also found it unusual that it occurred on a Sunday morning. There are few trains on that line at that time, which seems at odds with there being a lengthy course of conduct.

Indeed, the train involved was the first train of the day on a Sunday - and they had quite a lot of difficulty getting a relief train crew to the site.

Whilst on the one hand it is unusual, it's worth pointing out it's only a year or so since there was another similar incident in the same area.