Discussion
Well got mixed up in a fatality on what upto that point had been a fairly routine couple of trips to Brum and back tonight.Thankfully not my train but I was stopped just on the opposite line north of Congelton, a local to Stoke had hit someone as the driver was slowing for the station stop so it looked as if he was travelling fairly slowly.The body was clearly visable just behind the train.So my simpathy is with the Northern train crew and BTP who have to deal with this mess and to the relatives who no doubt have had the knock at the door. Why post on here ,well theres quite alot of BiB bashing on here but their the ones who have take this sort of thing regularly Civvy or BTP.I didn't have to get involved but it wasn't obivous as why the other train had stopped the signaller at Maccelsfield had no info so I walked the few hundred yards to get some info from the Northern crew to pass back to Mac box.So if you were trying to catch a trin out of Piccadilly towards Stoke in the rush hour tonigth thats why everything was screwed up!
Assuming it was suicide,it is an extremely selfish way to go,theres no other reason for this person to be where they were the only obvious way there is from Congelton station and then walk north.Another aspect of this is the signaller giving me authority to proceed past the site,he shouldn't have .Several passenger apprently saw the body,still delay was down to 17mins late at Piccadilly not a couple of hours
Rollcage said:
A good few years ago a train I was on passed a body that was still uncovered by the side of the track - it wasn't a pretty sight seeing the twisted and headless remains of a person. It gave me nightmares for a long time afterwards, and I complained directly to BR, but just got the brushoff.
Several passengers did see the body yesterday ,the siganller gave me authority to pass the scene when he shouldn't have.In all fairness we would have been sat just north of Congelton for a few hours otherwise. Network Rail (this morning)are saying the signaller was unaware of the body.So the conversation I had with him stating the location of the body in relation to my own train and the Northern service must have been in my own head!Luckly all conversation are recorded so I'd like to see Notwork rail get out of that, tape being checked as of today.BTP have ultimate say on training running in such situations.It's only after they have finished on scene that Network staff clean up.What bridge?I was there you were not .Postion of the body in relation to the train and the nearest overbridge makes this highly suspect.I came to a stand at a signal which is just a few yards from Brookhouse Lane,as I walked towards the Northern train people were walking dogs on the lane below.The Norhtern service was just yards north of the lane.There is a footbridge further north after the canal underbridge.This must have happened at low speed as the northern service was on his approach to Congleton station.
Only the driver of the Northern service will know where the victim was and I didn't ask.I will not go into detail on the way the body was in relation to the train.The only real way for the victim to have been in that location was if he'd walked there.
Only the driver of the Northern service will know where the victim was and I didn't ask.I will not go into detail on the way the body was in relation to the train.The only real way for the victim to have been in that location was if he'd walked there.
streaky said:
In general, BTP pass these to the local force to deal.
In third-rail areas (e.g. the old Southern Railways area and the old LMS line from Manchester to Bury [is that still third-rail?]), the locals arrive and require power turned off. According to my sources down here, BTP don't do this automatically.
The SIO then opens a murder policy book and treats the scene as the locus of a potential murder. Train movements that might compromise the scene or safety of officers and others on the track are stopped (so in a sense the OP was fortunate that his train proceeded).
From experience (as a rail traveller to and from London) it takes at least two hours for services to start moving again, assuming the death is attributed to accident or suicide. Fortunately, there have been no recent murders on the railway tracks I use - the last was Maartje Tamboezer in 1986, one of the 'Railway Killer's victims. [A friend led the Operation Hart investigation team.] I imagine that - as with road closures - the police might close all running lines in the immediate vicinity to an on-track murder, and keep them closed for a long period (possibly several days). If the lines were into London, the chaos would be unbelievable.
Streaky
Bury line is now a tramline overhead wires.In third-rail areas (e.g. the old Southern Railways area and the old LMS line from Manchester to Bury [is that still third-rail?]), the locals arrive and require power turned off. According to my sources down here, BTP don't do this automatically.
The SIO then opens a murder policy book and treats the scene as the locus of a potential murder. Train movements that might compromise the scene or safety of officers and others on the track are stopped (so in a sense the OP was fortunate that his train proceeded).
From experience (as a rail traveller to and from London) it takes at least two hours for services to start moving again, assuming the death is attributed to accident or suicide. Fortunately, there have been no recent murders on the railway tracks I use - the last was Maartje Tamboezer in 1986, one of the 'Railway Killer's victims. [A friend led the Operation Hart investigation team.] I imagine that - as with road closures - the police might close all running lines in the immediate vicinity to an on-track murder, and keep them closed for a long period (possibly several days). If the lines were into London, the chaos would be unbelievable.
Streaky
As I've already said the only definative evidence is that of the northern driver,the train had not reached the station, the location of the nearest over bridge .The train front is mostly cosmetic even a body at speed will do damage to the panelling nothing was visable from the front at all.Trust me I would not have walked the 200 yards or so to see the the driver.Even a pigeon at 30mph and above leaves remains on the front of a train there was nothing .By inference that indicates the person was lying down, nearest over bridge is from Brookhouse lane a good mile in either direction.
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