Fatality at subirton

TomGreen · Post by **TomGreen** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 8:03 pm

got held up ont he way home from guildford tonight due to a fatality at surbiton,anyone hear about this?

Elojikal · Post by **Elojikal** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 8:05 pm

No.
Although apparently there was an accident on the level crossing at Barnham today.

stephenwiseman · Post by **stephenwiseman** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 12:43 am

Was a fatality at Hampton Court apparently, and the whole current needed to be switched off, which affected trains around Surbiton. I was lucky and got the train back before the fatality and got into Haslemere on time. The next train came 3 hours late!

cardiffcroupier · Post by **cardiffcroupier** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:48 am

The train involved was 2P50 Portsmouth - Waterloo Stopper.

Delays of up to 150 minutes were being reported. Many Portsmouth trains were being terminated at Wimbledon and turned around. At one point there was no down service through Haslemere for 90 minutes as trains were stuck either side and the lines in the area are not 100% reversable.

The thing that I can not get was that the incident was at the H. Ct Junction. A hell of a walk from the station, and I am not aware of any cut throughs thee. Anyone have any thoughts/ideas on that?

jp4712 · Post by **jp4712** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 8:30 am

Please keep this thread within the bounds of taste and decency - someone is dead, a family is grieving and a driver is no doubt in shock and perhaps affected for the rest of his life.

Paul

cardiffcroupier · Post by **cardiffcroupier** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:22 pm

My appologies.

Leaving my question open ended has left the opportunity for a number of tastless answers. My intention for discussion was more of a localised one of how can someone get to the position they were at.

Yes the traincrew are in shock, they were based at our depot. I would like to point out however that the one of the crews general questions will be exaclty the same as the one I posed.

trains2 · Post by **trains2** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 2:14 pm

Fences are there to stop people, but it doesn't necessarily mean they will stop someone, a pair of wire cutters will do the job nicely, so if someone were determined enough to trespass, it is not impossible.
Some fences aren't even barb wired, so people can just climb over it. There is an area at Pirbright Junction where the fence is completely flat and you can just walk straight over it.

Rich

47522 · Post by **47522** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 2:15 pm

Took me 5 hours to get home yesterday from Winchester. (4 Hours in the cold at Woking waiting for a bloody Alton train) Never seen so many people on a stataion, was worse than the Crewe event...

A guard told me it was a jumper, It happened near Subirton, the guard did tell me where it happend but cant remember now i dont think it was Hampton Court.
All the Waterloo trains had to go via Stains.
At one point every platform at Woking had a 455 in it.. bet thats rare.

cardiffcroupier · Post by **cardiffcroupier** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 2:57 pm

47522

It was at Hampton Court Jct, nr Surbiton on the Up Fast. (As far as I am aware)

Rich

Yes thre are some quite flimsy fences in that area, but it must have taken some time, and I am surprised no other drivers saw anything prior because of the number of trains passing through.

Mole259 · Post by **Mole259** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 3:56 pm

I assume if all waterloo trains were going via staines then they were using the loops to come back on themselves when necessary for instance the weybridge branch.

If so there must of been tons of trains going through chertsey and addlestone. Also i assume 455's got turned back?

I didnt hear anything on the news, only something this morning but not about surbiton, it was up north somewhere.

Keelar001 · Post by **Keelar001** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 3:56 pm

The incident took place at Hampton Court Junction on the Up Main Fast - from what I can gather the individual who was lost their life had scaled fencing in order to gain access to the tracks. Maximum permissable speed at this location is 85mph. Even with the brakes on Desiro, the driver would have had little chance to pull up short.

As cardiffcroupier has said, the crew involved were based at Fratton. The unit involved, 444 015, is currently under cover at Wimbledon awaiting removal to Fratton (by rail) for inspection and repairs.

As I'm certain goes without saying, all those who view these posts would wish to extend their sympathies to the family of the individual who perished in this incident, and also express their support to the SWT crew who dealt with the situation with the utmost professionalism.

trains2 · Post by **trains2** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 5:23 pm

cardiffcroupier wrote:Yes thre are some quite flimsy fences in that area, but it must have taken some time, and I am surprised no other drivers saw anything prior because of the number of trains passing through.

Im not saying that the person definatley cut themselves through the fence, im saying that's a possibility. It is much more likely that they just hopped over it as Keelar001 has said. It would also have been dark, and drivers don't generally 'look around' to see if anyones about, they're more likely (at least I hope so) to be concentrating on driving the train. I also don't believe that the headlight beam would extent to such a wide angle to reach a nearby fence (especially at HCJ as there are 5 tracks there), so the only chance of a driver seeing someone would be from a distance, but even then, a dark-clothed person can be mistaken for something else such as a post or vegetation.

In regard to the diversion via Staines, it's not the first time. A while back, engineering at Surbiton lead to all services being diverted up that line, allbeit it was on a Saturday, but that is still a lot of trains

Rich

cardiffcroupier · Post by **cardiffcroupier** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 6:08 pm

trains2 wrote:
Im not saying that the person definatley cut themselves through the fence, im saying that's a possibility. It is much more likely that they just hopped over it as Keelar001 has said. It would also have been dark, and drivers don't generally 'look around' to see if anyones about, they're more likely (at least I hope so) to be concentrating on driving the train. I also don't believe that the headlight beam would extent to such a wide angle to reach a nearby fence (especially at HCJ as there are 5 tracks there), so the only chance of a driver seeing someone would be from a distance, but even then, a dark-clothed person can be mistaken for something else such as a post or vegetation.

In regard to the diversion via Staines, it's not the first time. A while back, engineering at Surbiton lead to all services being diverted up that line, allbeit it was on a Saturday, but that is still a lot of trains

Rich

Hi Rich.

Yes I know you are only hypothesising, and I am agreeing with you, and I can see your point with the fact there are so many tracks, but even so it only takes one driver (or sometimes a crew travelling "pass" in the back cab) to see something unusual to spark a flurry of phonecalls.

Either way, its an incident that is every persons nightmare whether its a driver, guard or indeed passenger. Hopefully I will be going into work now to find that the crew involved are taking a well "earned" break from the track and not taking it too harshly.

CC

arabiandisco · Post by **arabiandisco** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 6:32 pm

Mole259 wrote:I assume if all waterloo trains were going via staines then they were using the loops to come back on themselves when necessary for instance the weybridge branch.

If so there must of been tons of trains going through chertsey and addlestone. Also i assume 455's got turned back?

I didnt hear anything on the news, only something this morning but not about surbiton, it was up north somewhere.

No need to reverse to divert via Staines - thanks to Byfleet & Addlestone Jcns.

Getting home yesterday was a nightmare. I ended up going to Paddington & out that way (as Basingstoke was my destination I could do that). Which followed the morning's fiasco of a signal failure at Fleet causing hour long delays to London bound commuters. A day to forget for everyone in SWT control, I expect!