Train doors in 'urgent' safety review

CHRISTIAN WOLMAR

Hundreds of InterCity trains may have to be remodified to stop passengers hurting themselves by jumping out of door windows - only a year after pounds 17m was spent on making carriage doors safer.

Great Western Trains, soon to be privatised, is examining the possibility of sealing up door windows, following the enquiry into the Maidenhead train fire in which one man died. Other InterCity operators are expected to follow suit. Ian Jones was killed by a train in September when he jumped out of the window of an InterCity train after a fire broke out.

Last week's inquiry report by the Health and Safety Executive criticised emergency procedures for evacuating passengers from trains and recommended a review of emergency equipment and facilities.

All 1,900 coaches in InterCity's fleet have just been fitted with central- locking devices which prevent passengers from opening the doors until the guard has activated the mechanism. The modification may have saved many lives in the Maidenhead incident because it prevented panicking passengers from jumping into the path of the train that killed Mr Jones. However, safety experts are now having to consider whether it may be better to lock the door windows and refit internal handles which, of course, could only be operated once the guard had activated the central door mechanism. A safety consultant working for the railways said: "It is amazing this was not done in the first place. It is a typical half-cock BR scheme."

A series of other incidents has prompted Great Western, which operated the train involved in the Maidenhead fire, to look "urgently" at the safety of its doors. The worst incident occurred last summer when a woman, Jennifer Dean, was saying goodbye to her boyfriend who was leaning out of the door window. She was dragged under the train and was seriously injured, losing a leg.