Train drivers jump red lights five times a week

Stark warning as figures show trains jump stop signals five times a week.

A horror rail smash is inevitable unless trains stop jumping red lights, experts have warned.

A Sunday Post probe has revealed that train drivers are running through stop signals at a rate of FIVE a week. Many of the incidents took place at well-known danger spots.

Some have been put down to distracted drivers, while others are said to have been caused by a failure to cut back foliage and trees obscuring safety lights.

The figures show that despite several horrifying accidents in recent years the problem of signals passed at danger known as Spads is still happening on a regular basis.

Rail safety campaigners last night hit out at the breaches.

Jonathan Duckworth, a survivor of the 1999 Paddington rail disaster, said: “31 people died in our crash and a major cause was a signal passed at danger, combined with a poor approach to driver training.

“The industry should remember there is no place for complacency or corner cutting on our railways and should take this increase as a warning not to be ignored.”

293 Spads involving passenger and freight trains were recorded in the last financial year a 17% rise on the previous year.

Another 152 trains have run through red lights since April this year including 10 cases classed as “potentially severe” by the industry’s own standards.

Train drivers jumped red lights 25 times last month alone. The figures were published in a Rail Safety and Standards Board performance safety report.

An industry insider told The Sunday Post most of the mistakes happened because drivers were distracted or because of faulty signals.

There are also twice as many trains on Britain’s railways compared to a decade ago increasing the chances of error.

Pressure for drivers to stick to timetables, “complacency” and foliage obscuring some signals on the railway network are also thought to have contributed to the rise.

“We are challenging train operators to reduce Spad numbers and we are also focussing on driver training and management.”

Industry expert Phil Marsh said: “A lot of drivers are now driving the same trains on the same lines and do not have the variety they did in the past. That can lead to complacency and boredom.

“The drivers have to know every inch of the track and every signal in the day, night, fog and rain. If there is a Spad, it is usually because something is distracting the driver.

“The drivers are at the front of the train and it is them who will die first if there is an accident. It is a hugely responsible job.”

He said danger was kept to a minimum by warning systems which slam on the brakes if drivers are approaching red lights too quickly.

The £500 million systems were introduced after the Paddington disaster. They mean that, in the vast majority of Spads, drivers will only slip past red lights by three of four feet posing little danger to passengers or crew.

However, concerns have been raised by Government watchdog, the Office for Rail Responsibility, that some of the older systems were now showing “weaknesses”.

An investigation into one case found they had contributed to a train driver passing through more than one red light during a single journey.

A spokesman for the watchdog said it was now pressing train operators to upgrade on-board safety equipment and “would not hesitate” in prosecuting major failures.

The spokesman said: “ORR takes incidents of train signals being passed at red very seriously.

“We are challenging train operators to reduce Spad numbers and we are also focussing on driver training and management.”

Network Rail said cases of trains running red lights had more than halved in the past seven years. It is working with operators and unions to make sure the figure continues to fall.

Paddington Survivor Group chairman Mr Duckworth, 56, who suffered terrible injuries in the disaster, said: “Whilst we accept rail travel is now significantly safer than it was 15 years ago, the crashes that occurred around that time came as a result of the rail industry not taking passenger and staff safety seriously enough.”

Last night, shadow transport spokesman Mary Creagh MP, said the UK Government should make the safety of rail passengers and staff a “top priority”.

The Labour MP said: “Under this Tory-led Government, staff are at a greater risk of injury, the number of trains going through red lights is rising and we’re still waiting for reforms to make it easier to close dangerous level crossings.

“Ministers must work with Network Rail and train companies to ensure passengers’ safety.”

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said the UK still had one of the safest railways in Europe.

She said: “We take the issue of trains passing stop signals very seriously and every incident is one too many. We are committed to working with the industry to ensure safety remains a priority.

“Over the next five years more than £38 billion will be spent on maintaining and upgrading the network.

“Operators are investigating each time a train passes a stop signal and will take the necessary action.”

A report released last year revealed dozens of drivers had shot through red lights because they had been using their mobile phones.

The devastating consequences were laid bare after 25 people died in a Californian train crash caused by a driver texting.

Official figures showed at least 37 drivers across Britain were caught driving through a red signal while using a phone between 1998 and 2010.

Most train firms have issued new guidance banning drivers from using phones in their cabs following a campaign from the train drivers’ union Aslef.Related: Could Lion dung inprove rail safety?