Train drivers ‘override safety system’
Train drivers have been accused of putting safety at risk by overriding a new warning system designed to prevent trains passing through red signals.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports that there have been a number of occasions where drivers have flouted safety rules by overriding the new Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS), the BBC reports.
The new system is being fitted across the rail network in an attempt to avoid fatal accidents that are caused by trains passing through red signals by automatically applying the brakes and slowing the train down.
Rail companies are reportedly considering ways to prevent drivers from violating safety rules.
The Cullen Report, published in March 2001, advocated the implementation of an advanced automatic system by 2008.
The industry was recommended to continue installing the TPWS in the interim – it has intervened 100 times over the last year.
The HSE’s assessment follows the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union’s decision to cancel threatened strike action in relation to the safety role of guards on trains.
RMT members were due to walk out for 48 hours on May 6th and again on May 27th.
The proposed action forms part of a long running dispute prompted by the decision to shift the responsibility for protecting trains during an accident away from guards to drivers in the late 1990s.
The move, which put guards in charge of passenger safety following an accident, stirred up unrest amongst guards and union representatives who argued that the shift undermined the role of guards and demoted them to little more than “KitKat sellers”.
However, union leaders have called off the strikes following “substantial progress” made during talks with train operators.
