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West Coast friday chaos..

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The Planner

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Fatality at Hemel Hempstead, 1A32 involved, not looking too good out there at the mo.

Incident 668966, 1156 minutes delay so far at 1532.
 
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Zoidberg

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The official word: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/sa65046c076943eb8cbac00412600528/details.html

"A person has been hit by a train at Hemel Hempstead.

Because of this, the following alterations will apply until further notice:

Journeys between London Euston / Shepherds Bush and Milton Keynes Central may be delayed by up to 90 minutes
Southern trains will not run between Watford Junction and Milton Keynes Central
Virgin Trains have ordered buses to run between Milton Keynes Central and Luton Airport Parkway to connect with East Midlands Trains services to / from London
No London Midland or Virgin Trains services are currently arriving at or leaving from London Euston"
 

amcluesent

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bac6cf5f.jpg


Not looking good for commuters
 

dk1

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Hopefully the clear up will be done within a couple of hours or maybe some lines re-opened to allow some movement. Always seems to be a Friday!!
 

tsr

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Hopefully the clear up will be done within a couple of hours or maybe some lines re-opened to allow some movement. Always seems to be a Friday!!

With all due respect for the victim, their family and friends (and also the staff involved), I would concur. However sad something like this is - and it is indeed very bad news - an efficient recovery operation will be welcomed, providing there are no suspicious circumstances. As I have occasionally said before, it may put staff at risk if they have to deal with unsympathetic, angry passengers, and overcrowding can also become a realistically dangerous problem at such times as these.
 

ushawk

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Down fast (towards MKC) has reopened now, only the Up fast (towards EUS) is currently closed - all peak Virgin restrictions lifted.

Must be a sign as about 30 minutes before the incident was reported i applied for be train dispatch for LM at Euston - showing what id have to deal with.
 

Rich McLean

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Just to add on to LM and Virgin Delays, a vehicle has struck a bridge near Sandwell and Dudley
 

ushawk

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Sad to hear :cry:

Also does anyone know how many people this year been struck by a Train? it's just a wonder as this is becomming common, i hear on average that 3 people get hit by train everyday

I know January it worked out to 1 daily, hasnt been as many since then though. I really dont think its on average 3 a day though.
 

tsr

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I know January it worked out to 1 daily, hasnt been as many since then though. I really dont think its on average 3 a day though.

More like 2 every 24 hours, I feel, excluding LU and metro/subway/tram services. This is mainly based on reading NRE and TOC website updates.
 

MK Tom

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As always thoughts with all those involved and while it is usually self-imposed these things can happen by accident so it's good to be mindful about assuming anything.

Awful day for LM today with this, bridge strike at Sandwell & Dudley and a broken down XC train on the Cross City line earlier. Their Twitter person/people must be commended because they've been doing a fabulous job.
 

fireincairo

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Currently on the delayed 17:04 from stockport to euston. Just crawled through rugby 2 mins ago. Must give credit to the stockport station staff and this train crew. Smiling through the disruption and being very helpful.

Was due to get the 17:23 with the dinner service (I always book first class on a friday!) But have ended up with light bites.. Not complaining though as the TM thinks we will arrive into Euston about 19:30.

Also saw Grand Central 43467 at crewe. What on earth was it doing there??
 

Simon Poole

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Currently on the delayed 17:04 from stockport to euston. Just crawled through rugby 2 mins ago. Must give credit to the stockport station staff and this train crew. Smiling through the disruption and being very helpful.

Was due to get the 17:23 with the dinner service (I always book first class on a friday!) But have ended up with light bites.. Not complaining though as the TM thinks we will arrive into Euston about 19:30.

Also saw Grand Central 43467 at crewe. What on earth was it doing there??

The Grand Central 43467 is there for matinance, they using LNWR now instead, speaking of Crewe i did hear another Failalty in the Crewe area
 

John55

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Something like 220 / 230 a year.

Quick check of ORR stats shows 208 suicides and 37 trespasser fatalities last year. Suicides seem to have varied between 200 and 250 over the last 15 years.

So assuming failed attempts are cleared relatively quickly there are on average 5 to 6 incidents per week. A contributer did report a few months ago that the railway suicides peaked in Jan - March time in contrast to other suicides which have different patterns.
 

bengley

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I was working at Euston at the time of the incident, I managed to get to Hemel to get home (I park at Hemel). I was there when they were dragging the incident unit back into Hemel to detrain.
 

bb21

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Can we request that members refrain from speculation as to the cause of the incident please. There is nothing to suggest that this is an act of suicide, and it is best to wait until the official verdict is given in due course.

As many of the regulars to the forum will be aware, suicide is a sensitive subject to many people, so please post with due consideration.

As has already been mentioned by others, our thoughts are always with all of those affected by such incidents, be it the deceased and family, the driver and family, and all those that have to clear up in the aftermath.
 

bailey65

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Whatever the reason for each fatality over 200 a year is a huge amount and that is a large number of drivers and train crew affected.
A lot of the drivers can't work again after this sort of horrendous incident i can't begin to imagine how traumatic it must be.
 

Ferret

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Whatever the reason for each fatality over 200 a year is a huge amount and that is a large number of drivers and train crew affected.
A lot of the drivers can't work again after this sort of horrendous incident i can't begin to imagine how traumatic it must be.

Agreed. Did anyone see the episode of The Tube where a driver who had sadly been involved with one such incident said that he saw the incident every time he sat in the cab, and that he felt like a murderer? That must be an awful feeling, and it's clear that driver will always be affected by what happened.
 

Ferret

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More than average this financial year. Nearly 50 in Anglia alone.

One wonders if the current financial climate affects the number of fatalities. People say that exam time and Christmas time are other influences.
 

pmgarvey

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The Christmas thing isn't true, studies of actually counting suicides show that it isn't higher around then, it's just when someone does commit suicide around Christmas people are going to be more inclined to remember it. The lowest time apparently is international football tournaments with England in them.
 

Lrd

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64 So far this year was floating around on Twitter. :cry:
 

eMeS

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Would anyone know if this is a peculiarly British way of ending one's life?

Has anyone got comparable figures for Europe, where many lines are unfenced?
 

amcluesent

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"In the Netherlands, as many as 10% of all suicides are rail-related. In Germany, 7% of all suicides occur in this manner, making this type account for the largest share of overall suicides in the country...an average of three suicide incidents per day."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_methods

Britain has one of the lower suicide rates for a northern European country.

Causes of death - standardised death rate, 2009 (1) (per 100 000 inhabitants aged less than 65)

20120112111824%21Causes_of_death_-_standardised_death_rate%2C_2009_%281%29_%28per_100_000_inhabitants_aged_less_than_65%29.png
 
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Bald Rick

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Saw some figures from the samaritans last year, and the %age of suicides using the railway in this country was less than 5%.

Not sure how true it is, but anecdotally some european railways exclude such events from their performance stats.
 

tsr

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Not sure how true it is, but anecdotally some european railways exclude such events from their performance stats.

I hesitate to comment on things like performance statistics in such circumstances, since doing so may seem rather crude, but I feel I should point out that the same actions can be taken by TOCs in Britain, except for the possible difference that the number of major incidents which have been removed from performance statistics are listed alongside said statistics.

For example, a poster at a local railway station will often give overall punctuality, cancellation and customer satisfaction scores for such-and-such a line, but at the bottom it says "Major incidents excluded: x" - where x is the number of incidents that have been removed from the overall calculations.
 
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