Friends of the Rail Forum

British Transport Police (BTP) said the men may have not heard the train coming as they had ear defenders on...

Two rail workers died on Wednesday after being struck by a Great Western Railway train on tracks near Port Talbot in south Wales...

The RMT transport union has rightly called for all “similar works” to be suspended while the crash is investigated.

“No one working on the railway should be placed in the situation that has resulted in the deaths that have been reported this morning.

“As well as demanding answers from Network Rail, and a suspension of all similar works until the facts are established, the union will be supporting our members and their families at this time.”

There are reports the victims were wearing ear defenders and could not hear the train apporaching.

Reports also claim signal workers were unaware that workers were on the line...

“A signal worker didn’t know that they were there. It could be that they hadn’t notified the right people”...

If that is true it will be about a system failure, not the actions of a worker...

A track worker killed by a passenger train in south London was on a zero-hours contract, probably fatigued, and left exposed to danger when a colleague failed to turn up for work, investigators have found.

Safety inspectors called for an overhaul of “Victorian methods of protection”, and demanded Network Rail review how its outsourced labour suppliers ensure people are fit to work. They said previous calls for reform, after a death in 2007 and a near-miss in 2017, had not been heeded.

The report comes a week after the deaths of two other track workers, who were hit by a train in south Wales...

A railway worker killed by a train in south London was on the track alone because he was covering up for his brother, who was too tired to do the night shift after daytime delivery work, it has emerged.

The Labour party and unions joined safety inspectors in calling for an overhaul of zero-hours contracts on the railway after investigators found fatigue was a likely contributory factor in the fatal accident last November...

The official report into the death of a railway track worker hit by a speeding train has recommended a review of the use of contingent labour on zero hours contracts on the railways.

Workers on zero hour contracts have to take whatever work they can get, whenever they can get it. They are inevitably induced into long shifts, leading to unhealthy work patterns and fatigue, with heightened risk of bad decisions and mistakes in a high risk environment, the report says.

“The possible effects of such patterns of employment on fatigue and fitness for work are significant,” the report says...

There were no formal lookouts when two experienced rail workers were hit and killed on a train mainline, a report has found.

Gareth Delbridge, 64, and Michael “Spike” Lewis, 58, were struck on the south Wales mainline by a Swansea to London train on 3 July.

An interim report from the Rail Accidents Investigation Branch (RAIB) said a third worker came very close to being hit.

The report said the three men were almost certainly wearing ear defenders and were not aware of the train until less than a second before incident on the tracks at Margam, Port Talbot.

The RAIB flagged up concerns that the planning paperwork suggested the up-line – the one the three men were working on – was going to be closed at 12.30pm for the work to take place but they began work much earlier and the accident happened at 9.52am.

The report said the men were part of a group of six Network Rail employees with 185 years experience on the railways between them. The group was carrying out maintenance work on points...