Train Safety
On Thursday, I was teaching at uni and the class finished at 5pm. The first train I could get home was at 5.40pm. I know from past experience that trains in the evening around rush hour are pretty crowded. It was especially bad on Thursday because most of the schools in the surrounding areas were on holiday.
Anyway, when I got on the train, there were no seats left so I ended up standing in the vestibule area which was uncomfortably crowded.
15 minutes into the journey, after a few stops, I managed to get a fold-down seat in the vestibule. At that point, the conductor appeared and that’s when a debate began
It all started when at one of the stops, the conductor wasn’t going to let a couple of guys with bikes on the train. Now, Scotrail sold these people the tickets, and they had waited on the platform for that specific train to arrive. Scotrail doesn’t have a cycle policy where you must book your bike on-board therefore, they shouldn’t have the right to refuse entry. If they are so concerned about health and safety, perhaps they should implement a policy. In this case, the guys did manage to travel.
To my right, there was a guy carrying a guitar who was perhaps in his late 30′s, sitting on the other fold-down seat. He’d paid £50 for a ticket, taking him from Kirkcaldy, up to Aberdeen. He started talking to the conductor, saying that he was quite concerned with the state of health and safety on the train.
He made the point that people shouldn’t be allowed to stand on a train- what if there was an accident? The conductor retaliated by saying that when you buy a ticket for a train, you don’t automatically have the right to get a seat- all you’re paying for is the journey from A to B. Again, I think this is wrong- you have to pay so much money for a ticket (not to mention the fact that the ticket prices keep going up), of course you should get a seat.
The conductor then gave the guitar dude into trouble for having his guitar sitting too near the door. She said it was a health and safety issue (what a joke). Basically she said that it was ok to have people standing in front of a door because in an emergency, people can move out of the way, luggage can’t. She also said (perhaps jokingly) that at least if the train was overcrowded and people were standing, you’d probably be quite safe because there would be no room for movement (i.e. you wouldn’t get thrown around much).
Here goes my theory: if there was an accident and the train was overcrowded and people were tightly packed, then no, you probably wouldn’t get thrown around as much. On the otherhand, you would get shoved into the people around you which would undoubtedly result in crush injuries. Now, the facts show that it actually doesn’t take that much force/pressure to stop the supply of oxygen to your brain. Please correct me if I’m wrong but normally, if your oxygen supply is cut off, you die. If your lucky, you end up brain damaged.
Also, as I previously mentioned, the conductor stated that it was ok to have people in front of a door because in an emergency, people can move. Hypothetically, if a train accident was extremely serious (and lets face it, most incidents involving trains usually are), then people could be fatally injured. To my knowledge, dead people can’t move (unless they’re zombies/vampires). They’d be blocking the door.
Train companies need to get their act together- they must be making a great deal of money from passengers. They never provide enough seats. How much extra would it cost to add an extra carriage? Really? Perhaps they could put on extra trains? Is that too much to ask?
annoyed
Some problems with adding an extra carriage: the ones in use are powered I believe which means extra fuel needs to be used; more to maintain; pay cleaners more at the end of each day to keep the extra carriage clean; more people will take advantage of the extra space and you end up in the same situation.
You are right with the whole oxygen thing, 3 mins without oxygen, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food all end up in death.
RE escaping from the train when it has crashed: carry a good knife to help with breaking the windows. There are those emergency hammers but there never seem to be enough and relying on others to help could be risky.
Comment by Kevin — October 19, 2009 @ 10:22 am
Most people finish work at 5pm. What happened to the train times?
Trains heading North: there’s a 16.00, 16.18, 16.36 and a 17.00. None of these are suitable for the 9-5 workers. Trains heading North between 17.01 and 18.00: 1. Just 1, at 17.40 or thereabouts and it’s a tiny 3 carriage one.
No much wonder the trains are overcrowded.
*shakes head*
Comment by Lynsay — October 19, 2009 @ 8:09 pm