I Did Think That Yesterday...

There are plenty of unmanned stations and remote crossings here in West Sussex, public footpaths cross them at will, and, the station I use daily is a stretch of cement along the line, people walk across the two lines (London/Portsmouth, so there are few slow trains on it) it all the time.

And yes, you CAN see a train coming, you can see it, hear it, even in broad daylight, the light at the front of the train is clearly visible. Tragedy yes, of course, but it isn't as if trains suddenly leap, un-announced and tiger like, out of the undergrowth, taking unwary walkers by surprise!

And when you are crossing a railway line, wouldn't you look around a few times before crossing and then, even when you were sure it was clear, get over them as soon as possible?

Looks like the two girls involved were well up for their day out, excited, distracted, thought, so it seems, that the lights etc flashing were for a train already at the station, so were off guard-result=tragedy. Awful, but difficult to pin all of the blame and responsibility on the railways.

Posted By: Martin Peters, Dec 5, 12:06:15