Train crash kills 6 in UK

RE: Train crash kills 6 in UK

APPARENTLY…

A worker who carried out some checks on this piece of track just three weeks ago complained to someone more senior than himself about the state it was in and the fact that it needed repair. This senior figure did nothing about it and the worker who carried out the checks is currently being questioned by police.

They actually suspected vandals for the state of the track, if this was the case I may question what sort of world we live in.

RE: Train crash kills 6 in UK

A terrible tragedy. It may seem a stupid suggestion, but I think more trains could be run on the network in a bid to avoid the gross overcrowding on some trains at certain times, and also that seatbelts could be fitted into trains. I read that the cause of the fatalities was being flung from the carriage. The carriage itself wasn’t badly damaged, and I think if seatbelts had been used then the passengers would not have been flung out onto the tracks like they were.
I think the problem was caused by a faulty point near the station.

RE: Train crash kills 6 in UK

Well you gotta consider the abysmal state of the infrastucture when it was privatised – its a little unfair to blame the profit motive, when most of the current danger stems from decades of under investment at the hands of our glorious government. Companies are easier targets than the government, aren’t they?!

I actually hire a car these days rather than use the trains – apart from some of the prestige routes (the LHR express for one) the entire network just FEELS unsafe to me.

RE: Train crash kills 6 in UK

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 10-05-02 AT 09:12 PM (GMT)]My deepest sympathies go out to those who have lost loved ones or those injured in this tragedy. And I know that it’s too soon to start proportioning blame. But…
It’s privatisation. It’s broken up a positive safety system, which took pains to take responsibiliy and learn valuable lessons from any accidents – and replaced it with one where everybody tries very hard to pass the buck, nobody is actually responsible for anything and God forbid anything should actually be learned. It took track and signalling infrastructure out of the hands of experienced railway engineers and put it in the hands of a company run by accountants, whose first duty is to their shareholders.
It took day-to-day maintenance out of the hands of a dedicated support organisation and gave it to outside contractors, who work down to a price rather than up to a standard.
It’s terrible. It’s unworkable. In all probability, it’s actually directly cost people’s lives, if not here, then definitely elsewhere. Sorry, but I’m annoyed.

RE: Train crash kills 6 in UK

It’s still incredibly poor that something like this has happened again.. Paddington, Hatfield and now this all within a couple of years. I wouldn’t agree that it’s bad luck, it’s poor organisation in a number of different areas.

RE: Train crash kills 6 in UK

Really sad, but I still think the UK has an effective rail system. Of course if has deteriorated but probably many of these crashes are due to bad luck or simply because the UK railway system is one of the busiest one in the world.

RE: Train crash kills 6 in UK

Our railways are crap… without a doubt. The trains can’t run on time and it seems the select few that do, crash. I was watching the news earlier and they were unsure of the problem. It seemed like a problem with the track at first and a train coming from the other direction supposedly collided with the wreckage. If this did happen, it’s certainly not good. The train crashing in the first place was bad enough, but a train continuing it’s journey towards the scene of the crash without knowing what is ahead really is stupid… it shows just how poorly organised the whole railway industry is in the UK.