Matt H Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 When a Pendolino comes round a curve at 125mph, by the time you see it, it's right on top of you mate. Since your average pedestrian isn't going to know the line speed or direction of traffic on the tracks, if the barriers are down it's a good idea to wait. Edit: The uncontrolled crossings are generally out in the sticks with low line speed and a low volume of traffic. You have qouted two completely different points i made there (albeit them being in the same paragraph) and have made it look completely different and in the wrong context Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieran Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 You have qouted two completely different points i made there (albeit them being in the same paragraph) and have made it look completely different and in the wrong context Edit to add: If he's skipped the track on the East Coast mainline for example where i believe there is a high speed level crossing and trains do travel fast then he is a moron for even considering to cross.. But on your average level crossing with goods trains... Your edit makes it clearer what you meant, but I don't know what you mean by an average crossing with good trains. All trains are heavy, fast and don't swerve and so best avoided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flukey-lukey Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Goods trains will still quite happily do 75mph depending on the area and linespeed of course. Its worse than playing 'chicken' on a motorway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedM Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Oh people. Yet another thread dissolving into bickering and semantics. I lost track of where the topic ended and can't see much else to keep this thread open for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Class One Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Ooh the threads open again. How did that happen? I'm one of the unfortunate people that has had to deal with the odd railway/tube line incident, both personally and professionally. When I was 16, my step father committed suicide by lying on the tracks infront of a commuter train on Christmas Eve. My mother could only identify him by his personal effects. He left a note for my mother, and for the train driver, but needless to say he ruined alot of people's Christmas that year. Travelling into work a few years back on the tube I had to get off at White City on the Central line of the tube. I waitied for another tube to come and stood by some stairs that led down onto the platform. Just as a train pulled in, I noticed a rush of movement to my right and this young woman in her early 20's came rushing down the stairs and jumped right under the wheels of the train. There was nothing that could be done for her. I don't know if it was deliberate or whether it was accidental in that she lost her footing, either way it was a tragic waste of a life. About 7 or 8 years ago, I dealt with a male who lay down infront of a train right infront of me and was hit by a slow moving train. We were called to a male on the tracks near Sheperds Bush and Olympia where this chap was threatening to top himself. After seeking permission to go onto the tracks (ie the trains have to be stopped and any live rails switched off) we went down to speak with him. Unfortunately our location was miscommunicated to British Transport Police and they cleared the wrong lines. Just as we were about to cross a slow train came through at about 10mph and chummy lay down right across the tracks. The driver couldn't stop and the wheels went over his head and legs. Now these aren't quite the same as young chav thrill seekers messing about at crossings, but the consequences are, and personally perhaps the Govt led initiative should have the balls to show some CCTV of someone getting hit or a car being hit, just to really show what it's like. These youngsters have no concept at all of the consequences of their actions but no amount of education will ever get through to some elements of society (read social underclass) despite every effort. But I would never label an incident where somone dies as a result of their deliberate actions as an "accident" as someone previously here did. There's nothing accidental about stepping infront of a barrier that's down or crossing infront of a red light or casually strolling infront of a fast approaching train. That's not accidental, it's plain bloody minded stupidity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRalphMan Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Geez Doug you poor bugger. How do you deal with witnessing something like that? Did you have counserling etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Class One Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Yeah you get referred to Occupational Health and all that jazz. Mind you after seeing an autopsy during my training, then there isn't much mystery left regarding the human body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveR Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Yeah you get referred to Occupational Health and all that jazz. Mind you after seeing an autopsy during my training, then there isn't much mystery left regarding the human body. Tellin' it like it is! A mate of mine works in a control room for the railways and often drivers will radio in if a peice of track they go over doesn't feel quite right, so an engineer can go out and take a look and remedy if anything is wrong. Anyway, one winters day about 5am when it's still pitch black, a driver reported a 'bump' in the track near the sheds where the trains were stored overnight. It's too dark to do anything and the track engineers aren't at work yet so they schedule it to be looked at later in the morning. It's only a very low speed bit of track anyway, so no real danger. Over the next few hours each train that crossed that point reported the bump, so there was clearly something wrong. It's too dark for them to see anything, but this sort of thing isn't uncommon and it's probably a bolt coming loose or kids putting stones on the line or something. You know where this is going I'm sure. Daybreak comes, an engineering team is sent out to investigate, and someone has laid on the tracks to commit suicide.... an been minced up by half a dozen trains since the first squish. At least the drivers weren't affected by that incident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRalphMan Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I would have thought after the 1st or 2nd 'bump' there wouldn't be much left to cause a bump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveR Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I would have thought after the 1st or 2nd 'bump' there wouldn't be much left to cause a bump. Depends I guess on whether it's being shoved & rolled about before being run over. Yummy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedM Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Thread closed. There's a lot here that is thought-provoking (and a lot that isn't). Let's hope it makes at least one person think before doing something like this or equally dangerous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts