APPENDIX 3
Memorandum submitted by the Parliamentary
Advisory Council for Transport Safety
The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport
Safety (PACTS) is a registered charity and an associate Parliamentary
Group. Its charitable objective is, "To protect human
life through the promotion of transport safety for the public
benefit". Its aim is to advise and inform members of
the Houses of Parliament on air, rail and road safety issues.
PACTS brings together safety professionals and legislators to
identify research-based solutions to transport safety problems
having regard to cost, effectiveness, achievability and acceptability.
We welcome the opportunity to contribute to the current inquiry.
This submission will focus on the key issues
of passenger perception of safety at stations and passenger behaviour
in overcrowded conditions. The discussion of these issues aims
to inform the Committee's deliberations on the inquiry questions
regarding effective methods of making stations safer, responsibility
for passenger safety and measures required to improve passenger
safety.
There has been much criticism of railway stations
in the media in recent months, with commentary focusing on passenger
concerns about personal security including:
— narrow or dark passageways and stairwells;
— lack of accurate timetable information;
— lack of waiting areas; and
— lack of facilities (shops etc).
Confirming this, the autumn 2005 Rail Passenger
Council national passenger survey found that only 57% of people
are satisfied with personal security at railway stations—which
was an increase of 3% from the previous autumn.
PACTS' primary interest in railway station safety
lies in its implications for people choosing rail as their preferred
mode of travel, above the option of a private vehicle. Road trauma
is the leading cause of accidental death for people under the
age of 50 and the second most common cause of all deaths of children
aged 10-16. Although significant and commendable progress has
been made in reducing the casualty rate, it remains the case that
each year more than 3,000 people are killed and more than 30,000
are seriously injured in collisions. By comparison, rail is a
very safe mode of transport. The 1994-2003 average rate of fatality
per billion passenger kilometres across the modes shows that rail
is much safer than road-based travel:
Fatalities across the modes per billion passenger
km
| Air | 0.00
|
| Rail | 0.4 |
| Bus/Coach | 0.3 |
| Car | 2.8[1]
|
| Motorcycle | 113 |
| Pedal cycle | 39 |
| Pedestrian | 52 |
(DfT, Road Casualties Great Britain: 2004, p116)
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Improving railway station safety has the potential to play
an important role in reducing casualties by encouraging people
away from private vehicles on to trains. In its report Maintaining
and improving Britain's railway stations, the National Audit
Office (NAO) notes that:
Research carried out for the Department in 1996 and 2002 suggests
that improving personal safety would result in 15% more journeys
by train (and Underground), much of it outside peak hours.
(National Audit Office, Maintaining and improving Britain's
railway stations, 2005, p.2)
The station environment therefore has a significant impact
on both actual and perceived safety and, consequently, on transport
choices. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) points
to the importance of public space in its Living Places: cleaner,
safer, greener policy statement, which notes that:
Every one of us, every day, takes decisions about which areas
to use and when and how we use them. Many of our decisions and
activities are influenced by our perceptions of the quality and
safety of the spaces we encounter.
(ODPM, http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1127644£P77_9838)
Given that the additional journeys cited by the NAO research
are outside peak hours, they are likely to be discretionary trips
such as shopping or travelling for leisure and a proportion of
potential passengers may therefore choose not to travel at all
if personal railway safety were not improved. However, a proportion
of journeys will be rail replacing car as the preferred travel
option and this has benefits for reducing road casualties.
As such, PACTS is concerned that current anxieties regarding
railway station safety are an obstacle to greater use of trains
and supports station improvement measures that will contribute
to modal shift away from road-based transport.
The issue of overcrowding on trains and at stations is one
many commuters, especially those in the south-east, are unfortunately
familiar with. This committee inquired into this issue in 2003
and commented on the lack of research available to inform policy
makers and train operating companies on the health and safety
effects of overcrowding. Although the risk of a crowding-related
fatality or serious injury at a station is statistically low,
experience would suggest that large numbers of passengers combined
with the narrow platforms that characterise many older Underground
stations and the speed with which trains enter the platform area
has the potential to result in an accident and could also contribute
to health related conditions like stress and anxiety.
Less serious accidents are known to be a result of overcrowding
at stations. A 2002 report prepared for Transport for London,
The Tube: Moving On, A Report for The Tube Future Priorities
Investigative Committee, commented that, "evidence received
also pointed to safety implications in stations, for example the
recent upward trend in injuries sustained on escalators, to which
overcrowding has been a significant contributory factor."[2]
The Transport Committee's inquiry recommended that more research
be undertaken to assess the health and safety effects of overcrowding
on both trains and stations. A recent literature review on overcrowding
and health on the railways, Rail passenger crowding, stress,
health and safety in Britain,[3]
confirms that little research has been done into this area. PACTS
would support more research on this issue to gain an understanding
of how to minimise potential risks from passenger congestion on
platforms.
PACTS is also concerned to ensure that the staffing levels
at and design of major London Underground stations are appropriate
to respond to an emergency evacuation situation. The passenger
congestion levels and design features typical of many 19th century
stations, such as narrow platforms and passageways, elevators
and multiple flights of stairs, could slow evacuation. Although
there is little scope to improve the layout of these stations,
it is possible to deploy staff to ensure smooth evacuations. Research
published by PACTS shows that a major influence on the behaviour
of passengers in an emergency is the performance of the staff.
In the field of aviation, one assertive cabin crew member can
evacuate passengers more quickly than two non-assertive cabin
crew. In those accidents where a successful rapid evacuation of
all the passengers is achieved, the cabin crew will have managed
to control the passengers and prevented disorderly behaviour[4].
The presence of sufficient numbers of staff at the major
Underground stations, who are trained to respond in mass evacuation
situations, is important when considering rail station safety.
PACTS would urge improvements to railway stations in an effort
to attract potential passengers—who could otherwise choose
to travel by car—on to trains as part of the road casualty
reduction strategy, to reduce the health and safety risks due
to over crowding and to ensure sufficient staff are available
to assist in evacuating in emergencies.
27 March 2006
1
This includes the driver and passenger. Back
2
National Economic Research Associates, The Tube: Moving On,
A Report for The Tube Future Priorities Investigative Committee,
2002. Back
3
Tom Cox, Jonathan Houdmont & Amanda Griffiths, Rail passenger
crowding, stress, health and safety in Britain, 2005. Back
4
Helen Muir, In times of crisis, how do passengers react?,
PACTS 2004, p.7. Back
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