"Extremely dangerous": 200 passengers stop Bristol train and walk up tracks

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

From the Bristol Post

SCORES of reckless rail passengers risked their lives by halting a train and walking along the track.

A group of disgruntled rail users decided to pull the emergency stop cord after hearing the 2.35pm First Great Western service from Avonmouth to Bristol Temple Meads would not stop at Redland station on Saturday.

Network Rail said that passengers were told that the station was too busy to stop at.

Angry at this change to the timetable, an unknown passenger halted the train a short distance out of Clifton Down station.

Up to 200 people got out of the carriage and started walking along the track back to the Clifton stop.

Julian Burnell from Network Rail said: "This is a very rare and very serious incident.

"In the seven years I have worked at Network Rail, this is the first time I have heard of such an incident taking place."

The company call this type of event an "uncontrolled evacuation" and it has the potential to cause fatal accidents.

Mr Burnell said: "It is extremely dangerous, even on a quiet railway like this one.

"Thankfully it is not an electric line, the outcome could have been very different."

It is understood that no one was injured during the walk -off and that everyone got back to Clifton Down Station safely.

British Transport Police (BTP^▸ (British Transport Police)) officers were called to the scene and helped escort passengers off the line.

A spokesman from BTP said: "We are treating this as a trespass incident ^ one which caused numerous delays to services in the area and could have put lives in danger ^ and inquiries are currently underway to identify those involved."

A spokesperson from First Great Western said that the train company is also carrying out investigations in to the incident.

In a statement, First Great Western said: "Railway lines are designed for trains, not people and are inherently dangerous places.

"The actions of this group of passengers, whatever their reasons, endangered not only themselves, but also their fellow passengers.

"We will be investigating."

The walk-off caused long delays on the line and normal service was not resumed until past 6pm

According to other comments on forums, there was a Greenpeace festival in the area. Born out by one of the comments under this article -

The reason the train was so busy was because there was a big festival in Eastville park.. I have a photo of how packed it was at Clifton station as I was there. That train must have been unbearably rammed.. Maybe dangerously rammed. That is why it wasn't stopping at Redland and the latter trains were badly delayed.. I ended up walking from Clifton to Lawrence Hill!

[phile]

Tokyo World Music Festival at Eastville.

[TaplowGreen]

Crazy.............well at least rugby fans behave themselves when the trains fall over!

[Red Squirrel]

Not wishing to condone the actions of a group of people who, through no fault of their own (because we can assume that the person who pulled the cord was not a festivalgoer) found themselves trapped on a very overcrowded train with expensive tickets for a festival that was passing them by:

Mr Burnell said: "It is extremely dangerous, even on a quiet railway like this one..."

Am I correct in thinking that the line speed here is 30mph?

Presumably the main danger would come from a northbound train that had SPADed after Redland station? Or perhaps from falling down the steps? Or maybe a wasp?

Edit: Reading the article at http://epigram.org.uk/news/2015/09/chaos-on-train-to-tokyo-world suggests that possibly the cord was pulled at some point after the train was halted.

[grahame]

Presumably the main danger would come from a northbound train that had SPADed after Redland station? Or perhaps from falling down the steps? Or maybe a wasp?

You are a cynic. The railway is a hostile environment with lots of things to trip over, uneven rough surface so it's hard to walk on, and it's also very greasy and dirty.

[Louis94]

Edit: Reading the article at http://epigram.org.uk/news/2015/09/chaos-on-train-to-tokyo-world suggests that possibly the cord was pulled at some point after the train was halted.

If that is the case sounds like they stopped at the red signal after departing Clifton Down station, maybe the signaller stopping the train to tell the driver not to call at Redland(?), dangerous really as stopping there would indicate perhaps waiting a train to come off the single line.

[Tim]

Crazy.............well at least rugby fans behave themselves when the trains fall over!

Yeh right.  The closest I have seen to people going run over by a train, was when some very drunk Rugby fans on my GNER^▸ (Great North Eastern Railways) train missed their Berwick stop, pulled the cord, opened the door and staggered along the other track to the station seconds before a train passed.

Not condoning the passenger actions at Redland, but not stopping a train because it is rammed is a bit poor is it not.  London Underground doesn't do that. 

[Red Squirrel]

You are a cynic.

Maybe.

I would certainly question whether the decision made by the passengers, en masse, was the worst one made about that train on that day. Placing the blame squarely on their shoulders does tend to absolve anyone else from responsibility for assuring its safe running.

I assume that incidents like this are outside the remit of the RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch)?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Edit: Reading the article at http://epigram.org.uk/news/2015/09/chaos-on-train-to-tokyo-world suggests that possibly the cord was pulled at some point after the train was halted.

If that is the case sounds like they stopped at the red signal after departing Clifton Down station, maybe the signaller stopping the train to tell the driver not to call at Redland(?), dangerous really as stopping there would indicate perhaps waiting a train to come off the single line.

Ok I can see I need to wind my neck in a little here - there was a potential for a northbound train coming off the single line section on to the loop where the detrained passengers were walking.

[johnneyw]

I've been critical of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) before but I can't hold them at fault for this. The"students" in question surely need to take responsibilty for the consequenses of there own actions in the face of the situation that was before them.  Instead, they crammed themselves onto a train that that they could plainly see was over crowded.

[Penzance-Paddington]

How stupid can some people be? These people are supposed to be the cream of intellectuality! More information is available here. http://metro.co.uk/2015/09/29/200-students-stopped-train-and-walked-along-track-when-they-were-told-it-would-miss-station-5412989/?ito=facebook

[ChrisB]

Thread already exists in Bristol Commuters. Please check before posting

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks, ChrisB. I've now moved and merged both topics here. 

[Red Squirrel]

Interesting to compare the four reports (Post, Guardian, Epigram and Metro): there is no consistency as to the precise sequence of events here. If this incident was, as characterised, 'extremely dangerous' then surely there must be some sort of enquiry, and surely it would be in the public interest to publish it?

[Brucey]

Stupid question, but why were they wanting to get off at Redland if the festival was in Eastville?  The next stop, Montpelier, is so close that they could easily have walked back to Redland quickly if that really was their destination.

These people are supposed to be the cream of intellectuality!

I'm not too sure about that, having spent three years in Bristol as a student and witnessed some of the odd things UoB and UWE students seem to think are acceptable.