What happens to passengers' belongings left on a train after an emergency evacuation?

[AY1975]

Does anyone know what normally happens to passengers' luggage and belongings that have to be left on a train if an emergency (such as a fire or derailment) requires the train to be evacuated? This is assuming that passengers are expected to leave the train as quickly as possible and leave any belongings on-board that they don't happen to be wearing or carrying at that moment, just as when a building has to be evacuated because of a fire (or fire drill) you are asked not to endanger your safety by staying to collect your belongings.

My guess would be that they would be treated as lost property, and the procedure for retrieving them (or attempting to retrieve them) would be the same as for items left behind on a train by mistake (meaning that passengers affected in that way would be charged the same fees to retrieve them as for lost property).

 

[Bletchleyite]

Does anyone know what normally happens to passengers' luggage and belongings that have to be left on a train if an emergency (such as a fire or derailment) requires the train to be evacuated? This is assuming that passengers are expected to leave the train as quickly as possible and leave any belongings on-board that they don't happen to be wearing or carrying at that moment, just as when a building has to be evacuated because of a fire (or fire drill) you are asked not to endanger your safety by staying to collect your belongings.

Evacuating a train is not like evacuating a building, as fire is very, very rare. Evacuations are normally slow to arrange, leaving plenty of time for people to sort out belongings, e.g. to separate anything valuable. Even if there is a fire, the first choice is to move to another coach. When you look at videos of evacuations, people mostly do take their "hand baggage" if it wouldn't be an encumbrance (e.g. rucksacks and handbags), though things like bicycles and large wheely cases will likely have to remain on board out of pure practicality.

With evacuations of buildings, in practice people do collect belongings (e.g. coats so they don't get hypothermia while outside), and it actually causes very few issues. With a lot of people to leave, it typically helps a little by staggering the demand for the evacuation routes.

Planes are of course different, because fire can spread so quickly due to the large amount of fuel present and the likelihood that the tanks will be ruptured in even the smallest accident due to the lightweight construction necessary to make it fly. Great weight is placed on being able to evacuate a whole aircraft within 30 seconds of an incident or emergency landing. This is generally undesirable of a train because one of the highest risks is of being flattened by another train on the line you've evacuated onto.

My guess would be that they would be treated as lost property, and the procedure for retrieving them (or attempting to retrieve them) would be the same as for items left behind on a train by mistake (meaning that passengers affected in that way would be charged the same fees to retrieve them as for lost property).

I suspect various means will be used to arrange it, but fees will definitely not be charged. That would be downright unreasonable.

 

[The exile]

Evacuating a train is not like evacuating a building, as fire is very, very rare. Evacuations are normally slow to arrange, leaving plenty of time for people to sort out belongings, e.g. to separate anything valuable. Even if there is a fire, the first choice is to move to another coach. When you look at videos of evacuations, people mostly do take their "hand baggage" if it wouldn't be an encumbrance (e.g. rucksacks and handbags), though things like bicycles and large wheely cases will likely have to remain on board out of pure practicality.

With evacuations of buildings, in practice people do collect belongings (e.g. coats so they don't get hypothermia while outside), and it actually causes very few issues. With a lot of people to leave, it typically helps a little by staggering the demand for the evacuation routes.

Planes are of course different, because fire can spread so quickly due to the large amount of fuel present and the likelihood that the tanks will be ruptured in even the smallest accident due to the lightweight construction necessary to make it fly. Great weight is placed on being able to evacuate a whole aircraft within 30 seconds of an incident or emergency landing. This is generally undesirable of a train because one of the highest risks is of being flattened by another train on the line you've evacuated onto.



I suspect various means will be used to arrange it, but fees will definitely not be charged. That would be downright unreasonable.

Although it wasn’t an on-train emergency - on the only occasion I’ve been evacuated from a train onto the trackside we were actively encouraged to take our luggage with us.

 

[Gloster]

That would be downright unreasonable.

Which, as we have frequently seen on this forum, doesn’t mean that the railway wouldn’t do it.

 

[pdeaves]

For the Salisbury derailment, someone 'came forward' afterwards to register that their bike was still onboard. I don't know how they got it back but I have no doubt they did in the end/

 

[WelshBluebird]

It really depends on the luggage I'd imagine. A rucksack or some kind of easily carriable bag I'd imagine people would be able to take with them. But suitcases, bulky items or bicycles and the like surely aren't going to be able to be carried along the tracks?

 

[LowLevel]

The belongings are usually bussed to a secure location to be collected by/returned to the passengers at the railway's expense at the earliest opportunity they can be recovered from the train.

An emergency evacuation from a train is a fairly unusual and significant event and will have a substantial management presence as soon as possible - one of them will take responsibility for organising this element.

 

[Scott1]

I've only been involved in one evacuation that required belongings to be left behind. They were unloaded later and taken to the nearest station. Most people then came and collected them, a few were couriered as required. Its very rare, as most of the ones I've known over the years are failed units/line problems, so taking belongings is no issue.