Two very sad incidents on the tracks on the same day

[tfw756rider]

Until the other day (not sure if I should be more specific), I don't think I had ever been on any trains that had not run as planned due to very sad incidents on the tracks, but on that day, that was the case with two of my trains (each one was in a completely different area).

Again, without being too specific, the first train of the two had to turn back (with special permission) to the station I had just left from, and the second train of the two had to go on an hour-long diversion.

I did still manage to do what I wanted to do (in one form or another) and get back home the way I wanted to, but I had overheard someone on the diverted train say "it's a worse day than ours for a family, you've got to bear that in mind", and that was, very sadly, so true (actually two families, due to my earlier turned-back train).

This has got me wondering - has there been a sudden increase in the frequency of such incidents, or did I just get unlucky? Hopefully I can be reassured that it was the latter.

 

[GoneSouth]

I don’t have specific factual information but my feeling is that this type of thing is on the increase sadly. I’m not going to go into detail either but I had a similar experience not too long ago. Train terminated early due to what was described on the train as emergency services responding to an incident, thought I could use a different route to complete my journey only to find that was blocked by another fatality.

Staff were great but people make me sick sometimes as a very small minority were complaining how ridiculously poor the service is and they were going to complain. I just wanted to tell them to shut up and put themselves in the place of someone who’s just lost a family member. Thankfully everyone else was very understanding.

Although on train information was vague and respectful, the same can’t be said for the information station staff were handing out. It was a bit distasteful talking about how long it was going to take to clean up the mess etc. they were helpful at getting everyone home though.

Travelling again last week station departure boards were announcing delays and cancellations due to a fatality so I’ve definitely seen an increase in the last year.

I assume there are stats somewhere that record “accidents” or incidents which resulting in injury or death on the railway but don’t know where to look.

Always very sobering and sad to see when it happens.

 

[zwk500]

Statistics are available and published by the RSSB.

Spoiler: Chart with Numbers

Statista has RSSB figures for Suicides and other Fatalities:

(Image of bar chart listing Great Britain rail fatalities and suicides from 2013/14 to 2022/23)

The data suggests that the overall trend is very slightly downward, but it's reasonably variable from any year to the next. One thing that has been anecdotally mentioned is that incidents can tend to 'bunch' together, partly because of publicity/putting things in people minds.