Great Western Railway (GWR) has been fined 1 million GBP and ordered to pay over 78,000 GBP in costs after pleading guilty to breaches of health and safety law.
The fine has been issued following an investigation by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
The incident in question took place near Twerton on 1 December 2028; when a 28-year-old suffered a fatal head injury after placing her head outside a droplight window of a moving GWR and striking a tree branch.
This was not the first time this had happened – in 2016, a passenger died in a similar incident near Balham in south London, which resulted in the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) issuing safety recommendations shortly after in May 2017.
GWR did not produce a written risk assessment for droplight windows until September 2017, with the operator then identifying the hazard as a significant passenger safety risk, however the ORR later found the assessment from GWR to be ‘neither suitable nor sufficient’, and wrote to the operator to explain its faults. The assessment was not then subsequently revised, with no further action taken to prevent the fatal accident in 2018.
Following the death in 2018; additional safety recommendations have been issues across the rail sector to prevent passengers from leaning out of droplight windows, including the removal of trains featuring the windows from active service and alterations to have them closed at all times whilst moving.
Richard Hines, ORR’s Chief Inspector of Railways, said:Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Bethan Roper. Her death was a preventable tragedy that highlights the need for train operators to proactively manage risks and act swiftly when safety recommendations are made to keep their passengers safe.
Our investigation found that GWR fell short in its responsibilities, and this prosecution reflects the serious consequences of that failure. We welcome the actions taken since by GWR and the wider industry to reduce the risks. Safety must always remain the first priority across Britain’s railways.
