What Cullen recommends
* Safety advice should be given before and after travellers have boarded their train.
* There should be standardised, on-board information on emergency facilities
* Drivers to be examined once every three years, with strict criteria for success
* All on-board train staff should receive evacuation training
* A culture must develop within the rail industry in which information is communicated "without fear of recriminations''
* Railway companies should review their emergency planning in the aftermath of a crash
* A telephone system by which passengers can communicate with the signaller in the event of a driver's death should be investigated
* The standard of trains' crash-worthiness needs to be reviewed
* The system for giving information on missing persons should be computerised and made available to police forces nationwide
* Changes to signalling should be subject to constant monitoring
* Signallers and drivers should attend "away days'' to develop a mutual understanding
* Safety auditing should be strengthened, and any organisation that is the subject of an audit should disclose all relevant information.
* Explicit consideration should be given to the "readability'' of a signal. If a signal complies with a minimum requirement, this does not necessarily mean it is adequate
* Where a signal is passed at danger (Spad) there should be no presumption that driver error is the sole or principal cause
* A unique alarm should sound when there has been a Spad
* There should be a national system of direct radio communication between trains and signallers
* Signallers' duties in event of a Spad should be clarified and set out in a single set of instructions
* All staff in the signal box should be briefed by line manager after a Spad
* Any risk assessment should be done independently of Railtrack
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments