London Underground has been instructed to risk assess each tightly curved platform on its network following the death of a passenger who fell from a train at Waterloo station on the Bakerloo Line in May last year.
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The Rail Accident Investigation Branch adds that consideration must be given to engineering measures that may prevent access to – or reduce – such gaps, and measures which could detect the presence of people in the space between platform and train.
According to the report, the passenger who died at Waterloo fell into a large gap between the train and platform which exists because of the track curvature at the point where he was alighting. The passenger was unable to free himself and was crushed by the train as it departed, before being hit by a following train.
No staff or other members of the public were nearby to assist. Because only the fallen passenger’s head and arm were above platform level, he was difficult to detect on the train’s despatch monitors and was not seen by the train driver, the report added.
The investigation found that London Underground’s risk assessment processes ‘did not enable the identification and detailed assessment of all factors that contributed to higher platform train interface risk at certain platforms’.
But while some location specific mitigation measures had been introduced at the passenger train interface, London Underground ‘had not fully quantified the contribution of curved platforms’ to the overall risk, and so was ‘unable to fully assess the potential benefits of additional mitigation at these locations’.
The investigation also found that the model used by London Underground to quantify system risk makes no allowance for non fatal injuries, and so ‘understates the risk of harm to passengers’ at the passenger train interface, and presents ‘an incomplete picture’ of system risk.
London Underground’s customer operations director Nick Dent offered his deepest sympathies to the family of the deceased. He added: “We would like to reassure customers that the safety of everyone on our network is always our top priority. We have considered the findings of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch’s report and have already started putting the recommended actions in place after carrying out our own internal investigation. We will ensure that we do all we can to prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again.”
(Photograph: RAIB)
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