Trapped on a level crossing - pursue action?

[TheMysteryCat]

I'll try and keep this brief, but in essence, I'm trying to work out the best course of action following an incident on a level crossing last week.

I was waiting at a level crossing barrier that was closed with some friends and my baby (in buggy). The train went by and the crossing went up. Along with a number of other people, we began to cross. As we did so, the warning sound went off and then the barriers came down. I legged it to the closing barrier and got through with my baby, but one of my friends was trapped inside the barrier with about 4 other people. My friend doesn't walk well (she uses sticks) and was panic-stricken.

With my other friends that had gotten through, we forced the barriers apart enough to get my friend and the others out. My friend caught her arm on the barrier - it was bruised afterwards and swollen.

Afterwards, we complained to the station and to the crossing operators. They have said it will be a few weeks before a full investigation is completed. To my absolute horror, I was told that the railway operators only have to allow 30 seconds for anyone to cross a level crossing and that the CCTV/Signal Operator had seen us trapped/escaping and stopped the train, but did not raise it with anyone at the station, or make an announcement on tannoy for example.

What other action should I take to remedy this situation - the police? or solicitors? I think it was horrific and a very scary near-miss. What if it happens again and someone is much more badly hurt?

The regulations vary somewhat depending on the precise type of crossing involved. However, in general the barriers must be raised as soon as possible after the train has passed. They should only be kept down for the next train if road open time (i.e. the time from the barriers being clear of the road until the warning lights start for the next train) will be less than 10 seconds. Once the warning lights and audible warning start there must be at least 27 seconds until the train arrives (more if the crossing is more than 15m wide) and the train should arrive as soon after that as possible - the idea is to limit the inconvenience to road users and, particularly at half barrier crossings, to reduce the likelihood of drivers becoming impatient and zigzagging around the barriers.

Whilst I am sympathetic and understand that this was scary for those involved, there was no actual danger. The signals would have been against the train throughout this incident. The signals are not cleared to allow a train to proceed over the crossing until the signal person is satisfied that the crossing has operated correctly and is clear of people, vehicles and any other obstruction. It is unlikely that the signal operator had any means to make a tannoy announcement to people on the crossing and, as far as I can see, had no reason to raise this incident with station staff. I am surprised that the barriers were not raised but perhaps everyone escaped before the operator could raise the barriers, or maybe the operator was not aware that there was insufficient gap for pedestrians to get through.

Based on the information posted here, it seems likely that the regulations were followed correctly throughout. Legal action is therefore unlikely to succeed. However, I would expect Network Rail to review the incident and determine whether any changes are required at this crossing to improve safety.

prh47bridge

thank you for your detailed and interesting post.

May I ask you a few questions?

Where did you find the info about crossing times/times between trains etc? I've been looking but can only find answers to FOI requests for specific crossings and no details for the one I used.

I didn't see any warning lights and neither did any of the others who also crossed with us, so I wonder if that may have been a possible fault.

The crossing was, I think, more than 15m - it's a mainline station near Waterloo. Do you know what the timing is for more than 15m?

For me, finding out after the incident that we wouldn't have been hit was too late for that knowledge. I don't believe it's general public knowledge either, which is interesting. I also wonder why there aren't emergency buttons and I didn't see an emergency phone by the crossing either. I think the problem is that when stuck on the tracks, people will be so scared of the oncoming train, that, (as I saw with one person who was stuck with us), their behaviour becomes erratic. This elderly person started trying to go up the crossing towards the platform, and to try and climb over the barrier which would almost certainly have resulted in a bad fall.

I'm pretty sure it was less than 30 seconds after we started crossing before the barriers were fully closed trapping people in the crossing, so, again I'm very curious as to what the steps in the closure are and the timings. If you have any info, or pointers to where I can find that info, I'd be much obliged!

As it happens railways are one of my hobbies so I already had some knowledge, although I can tell you a lot more about motive power than about signalling! You can find the detailed guidance issued by the ORR [http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/level_crossings_guidance.pdf here].

The warning lights are for road users. The detailed guidance covers a lot of different types of crossings. The 27 seconds figure actually applies to automatic half barrier crossings and goes up by 1 second for every additional 3m of crossing length. Looking again at your original post it may be that this was a different type of crossing. It sounds like an MCB (CCTV) (which stands for Manually Controlled Barrier crossing with Closed Circuit Television - note that this term includes crossings where the cycle is initiated automatically as well as those where the cycle is initiated by railway staff). If that is correct you will find details of the sequence and much other information on pages 19-22 of the guidance document, but you may also need to look at other sections to understand it fully. Note that the term "infrastructure manager staff" is, in most cases, a long winded way of describing signallers who may be in a signal box located miles from the actual crossing. If there is anything else in the document you don't understand feel free to PM me. If I don't know the answer myself, I know a man who will!

I agree that the general public knows less about railway safety than used to be the case. This is not helped by the press which frequently publishes incorrect information, particularly following an accident. I agree that being trapped between the barriers can be a frightening experience.

Slight sidetrack but yesterday there was an article on the news about some research done at UCL about how people are struggling crossing in the allotted time at zebra crossings, especially elderly (with the explainer 'even the young and fit just elderly people'!) and those with mobility problems.

Might be worth looking at for some up to date research and data to see if there is anything that is applicable to your case. As a minimum I'd have thought that it would give times for crossing a width of road that you could extrapolate to your crossing, plus you would need more time to get through gates and navigate uneven surface, maybe processing time to react to lights/alarm, read any notices etc etc.

Sounds a horrible predicament to be in - hope you manage to get them to take it seriously. Talking to your mp or the one for where the crossing is sited might be useful too. Good luck!

Sorry, I'm on my phone so can't find the link but it seemed to be quite widely reported.

prh47bridge thank you for taking the time to explain all of that and apologies for the late reply (internet issues... ho hum!)

In the intervening days, it appears that NR are accepting some kind of responsibilty for a fault with the barrier timings. I'm waiting for a full explanation to arrive by post and am most interested to see what it says.

At the very least I hope they will be changing the timings/synchronisation of the barriers.

zipzap thanks for the info about zebra crossings. I'll look it up, as I do think it's possibly all linked. It seems frightening that so little time is allowed. I think there is a strong case for lobbying for more time because my perception at the moment is that the timings are based on the average time for crossing for able bodied people. I wonder if the various disabilities charities and organisations are aware and what they are doing about it. Perhaps this might be an opportunity to make them more aware.