SECURITY & PASSENGER SAFETY
Ian Prosser, director of railway safety at the ORR, talks to RTM about advances in passenger safety and driving improvements for the future.
S
afety on the railways is improving year on year, but there is still much that
needs to be done to take the network from ‘average’ to ‘excellent’, according to ORR’s director of railway safety, Ian Prosser.
The introduction of new rolling stock as well as TPWS (train protection and warn- ing system) has improved safety over the last ten years and risk to passengers from train accidents has been greatly reduced.
Better track maintenance, particularly around the management of rail defects with the use of new technology like ultrasonic inspection, have also contributed to this new wave of safety improvements.
But Prosser suggests the industry must con- tinue to focus on particular areas, including harm to passengers at stations, especially at the train-platform interface, and avoidable deaths at level crossings.
Level danger
Although the UK can boast one of the saf- est level crossings in Europe, they remain a major area of risk. Most people who have lost their lives as a result of railway op- erations over the last ten years have been members of the public at level crossings.
Prosser stated: “Some of these are due to the actions of the individuals themselves, but significant numbers of them are due to the failings of the industry.”
Under the watchful eye of the ORR, Net- work Rail is focused on improving this situation, implementing a stringent risk assessment process and closing hundreds of crossings to bring down the number of fatalities.
Although this is the obvious answer, Pross- er said: “There’s a whole set of options. Each crossing will have its own peculiari- ties and circumstances. That’s why it’s so important to have a very accurate local risk assessment.”
Other options include building new bridg- es, raising public awareness of level cross- ing misuse or simply maintaining the right controls. Once a clear understanding of the
72 | rail technology magazine Feb/Mar 12
Below: A TPWS grid at a signal, and just past it is an AWS magnet from pre-TPWS days, which will give the driver an additional audible warning.
situation is in place, then the best solution can be evaluated dependant on these cir- cumstances.
Prosser also cited ongoing work to stop car drivers from misusing or abusing level crossings. The use of new technology has substantially increased the number of prosecutions and will have a real impact on reducing fatalities, according to Prosser.
He continued: “Last year we had the lowest number of fatalities at level crossings that we’ve ever seen. It’s an area that we contin-
uously need to improve, because there have been many more fatalities at level crossings than there have been train accidents in the last ten years.”
Managing risk
Other areas that continue to pose risks are passenger safety in and around stations. While some of this is caused by slips, trips and falls, there has been a rise in the num- ber of incidents at the platform-train inter- face, which the ORR is working to address with ongoing inspection work.
© Alvey & Towers
© Paul Robertson
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