Britain’s Railways Safe as Ever

With the Olympics taking place over the next few weeks, London’s infrastructure will be under intense pressure.

Fortunately, a new report suggests that the city’s train lines are safer than they ever have been and, indeed, that the United Kingdom has one of the safest railway systems in Europe.

Released on July 24, the Office of Rail Regulation’s annual health and safety report says that with the number of passenger journeys taken into account, the overall rate of ‘harm’ on the United Kingdom’s rail network has decreased by 12 per cent over the past year and is at its lowest level on record.

The report also says that none of theLondon Underground, Overground or Docklands Light Railway systems suffered any form of workforce or industry caused passenger fatalities, and that the incidence of accidents on level safety crossings had improved by 15 per cent.

However, the report also highlighted further areas of concern. Although the number of ‘potentially higher risk’ train accidents in 2011/12 was at is second lowest level on record, coming in at 32, it was still up from 18 in 2010/11.

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