Railway station deaths up

The number of passenger accidents at railway stations increased last year, official figures showed today.

Eight passengers died in incidents at stations in 2010/11 compared with five in 2009/10, the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) said.

RSSB policy, research and risk director Anson Jack said: "Against a background of strong growth in passenger numbers, passenger accidents at stations have increased and the industry needs to identify means to achieve improvement in this area while maintaining safety improvements across the railway industry."

In 2010/11, for the fourth year running, there were no passenger or workforce deaths in train accidents.

There was just one workforce death in 2010/11, when a worker died from a fall from height.

There were 208 suicides on the railways in 2010/11 as well as 27 deaths through trespass and four pedestrian deaths at level crossings.