Nine rail workers were just seconds from death after being given no warning that an 80mph passenger train was bearing down on them, rail accident investigators have said.
The track workers, operating on a small bridge on the West Coast main line in Lancashire, were reliant on getting visual and audible warnings of approaching trains as their view was restricted by the curvature of the track.
But they received no advance warning that an Edinburgh to Manchester Airport train was approaching. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said: "They were forced to take immediate evasive action when the train first became visible, approximately four seconds before it reached the site of work.
"Some staff were unable to reach a safe position and pressed themselves against the bridge parapet."
The RAIB has launched an investigation into the incident that happened south of Hest Bank between Carnforth and Lancaster on the afternoon of September 22 this year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article