Category: Factual
& Arts TV
Date: 03.11.2004
Printable version
A six-month investigation
by the Â鶹Éç into safety on Britain's railways has uncovered stretches
of track described by industry insiders as "dangerous", "very
risky" and of "great concern", raising fears that passengerÂ’s
lives are being put at risk.
Whistleblower, which will be broadcast on Â鶹Éç ONE at 9.00pm on
Thursday 4 November, also includes evidence that:
A 20-yard stretch of rail was held in place by only one safety clip
The track on the Forth Rail Bridge is in such poor condition that a track
inspector called it "dangerous"
An examiner allowed a candidate to cheat in a crucial track exam
A track fault was wiped from computer records a week after a derailment
occurred on the same stretch of line
Track cards, vital to workers' safety, were often not checked for days
on end in clear breach of safety rules
Crucial safety briefings were ignored much of the time even though they
are compulsory under safety guidelines
During the investigation three Â鶹Éç reporters – Pervez Khan,
Dave James and Danny Pennman - went undercover as track
workers, up and down Britain's railways.
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The programme was helped by dozens of rail insiders,
including a track engineer who has just retired as a track inspector
after 14 years.
He tells the programme: "I don't have confidence in a safe railway
at all. I don't think we have a safe railway in this country."
"I feel like I've wasted my time and there's a lot of other people
who feel the same way."
He adds: "I have tried to do something about this. I have raised
concerns with management at various safety meetings but I've seen no
action taken when I've raised issues with them. So this is probably
the best way to get the message out there."
The track inspector's biggest fear about safety centres on the Forth
Rail Bridge, Edinburgh, which has a 150 foot drop to the Firth of Forth
below.
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The distance between the rails is supposed to be kept
constant by wooden wedges and plates. But, accompanied by one of the
programme's reporters, the inspector finds that many of wedges which
hold the rails in place are loose.
Looking closely at the track, he comments: "Well this wedge, that
is not holding anything and its opposite number that has actually disappeared
down the side of the timber."
One Â鶹Éç reporter remarks: "To my untrained eye that looks potentially
dangerous."
The track inspector responds: "To my trained eye it looks dangerous.
It is. You don't have to be, you know, knowledgeable with railway infrastructure
to know that there's something wrong with that."
When asked: "What do you think the passengers would think if they
knew the state of these clamps and these wedges?" the whistleblower
replies: "I think the buses would be very busy."
The inspector also alleges that railway management is aware of his concerns,
but he concludes: "We put our reports in, they obviously go back
to management. They read them and nothing's done."
The whistleblower produces paperwork which shows that faults have actually
been removed from the records without them ever being fixed.
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The derailment of a coal train in September 2002 in
Kincardine, just a few miles away from the Forth Bridge, was caused
by badly-aligned track, and he fears this could be repeated on the bridge.
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The week after the derailment when the sheets came out
the faults, which showed that the tracks were badly aligned, had disappeared.
"After a derailment, the Health and Safety Executive will have
an enquiry into the reasons for the derailment. And I believe that that
fault was removed to stop the Health and Safety Executive discovering
that faults that could have contributed to the derailment had been previously
reported," he says.
The company responsible for track maintenance in Scotland at the time
was the rail contractor First Engineering.
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The programme asked them why all traces of the track
fault had been wiped from the records. They declined to comment.
When one undercover reporter works at Network Rail's depot in Guildford,
Surrey he discovers one stretch of track – along the Wanborough
to Farnborough line – where a series of sleepers aren't properly
clipped to the rail.
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One particular 20 yard stretch of rail is held down
on one side by just one thin clip; the rest are either missing or so
bent that they are not securing the rail at all.
After showing the evidence to a track inspector, this second whistleblower
- who doesn't wish to be identified - takes the reporter along another
unspecified stretch of track where trains travel at up 85mph. The whistleblower
believes this rail is in such a poor condition that lives are at risk.
He shows the reporter a part of the track which is on a curve, and explains:
"When a train goes round a curve the force of the wheels grinds
away the side of the outside rail making it narrower and narrower.
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"We measure how narrow it is by putting this gauge
on top of the rail. A good rail should have a wide gap between the top
of the rail and the gauge, like here."
"But look here, this rail is so ground down that there's only a
narrow gap." He later adds: "It's very risky. It could derail."
When asked: "So what would happen if a train was derailed at 85mph
on this curve?" The whistleblower responds: "You'd have fatalities,
definitely."
The Â鶹Éç reported its concerns to the industry's own confidential hotline,
and is met by a Network Rail inspector who looks closely at the stretch
of track, and comments: "I don't actually think that this is compromising
safety so long as the patrolmen are briefed that they knock the spikes
down as they come through and it is unacceptable just to walk past and
leave... what is it? Fourteen up in a row?"
However she agreed to arrange for the track to be repaired in seven
days, as required by the regulations.
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The Â鶹Éç returned in 14 days and found it impossible
to determine whether any work had been done at all. Most of the spikes
were still not hammered down properly. Spikes are the clips which help
to keep rails in place.
The programme consulted one of the most respected figures in the industry,
Professor Brian Clementson. He has 43 years in the industry, and is
a former director at British Rail and Virgin Trains.
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Clementson tells the programme: "Having so many
spikes over an extended distance was of great concern to me. The rail
is free to move vertically, and once a rail is free to move vertically
under the weight of the passage of a train, it can also move sideways.
And that would present a very risky situation."
Speaking about the programme Clementson said: "I found the whole
thing very worrying and very concerning. And I hope that Network Rail
will take this film as being a positive contribution to trying to improve
things."
He adds: "The filming's that been done has been random in nature,
it's not been set up in any way, er, I can only come to the conclusion
that actually the kind of things we've seen in the film are probably
more widespread than I had hoped."
The programme also shows a series of safety regulations breached, in
particular Network Rail's Controllers of Site Safety often failing to
check the track cards of the undercover reporters.
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In one instance, undercover reporter Pervez Khan tells
the Network Rail controller that his card is invalid but he is allowed
to work on the track anyway.
After the death of Michael Mungovan, a track maintenance worker killed
by a train in October 2000, the industry had promised to improve the
system – and it is now supposed to stop people with invalid cards
from working on the tracks.
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The programme includes an interview with his father
who is shown how the undercover reports are allowed to work on the tracks
after a few hours training in a classroom, often without their track
cards or an adequate safety briefing.
In order to work on the railways the undercover reporters are required
to pass a written test. The three undercover reporters secretly film
at the Catalis Rail Training centre, in Derby.
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While invigilating the test, the examiner walks out
of the room for several minutes and later when reporter Dave James deliberately
fails his exam, the invigilator cheats him through the exam, by giving
huge hints as to the answers. Within days Dave James is working on the
track.
The programme also shows poorly co-ordinated working arrangements, with
one undercover reporter being required to work - on average - just three
hours a day in an eight hour shift because of disorganised work schedules.
After the investigation, the Â鶹Éç approached Network Rail who provided
a written statement: "The track on the Forth Bridge is safe and
in a satisfactory condition... The reports we have of the track quality
and condition on the bridge taken over the last year can establish that
it is fit for purpose.
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"The conditions you describe are not a safety risk
and do not require immediate attention or speed restrictions."
The programme shows an inspection of the track being carried out at
night by staff in Land Rovers.
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Of the night time inspections from Land Rovers, they
said: "This is a long established, proven, safe method of inspection...
approved by the Health and Safety Executive.
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"It is safer for our workforce and with extremely
good lighting and equipment and tools on board... it does the job and
does it well."
Catalis – the company which trained the undercover reporters –
will be repaid for the cost of their courses.
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The Â鶹Éç also told Catalis how trainer Paul Johnson had
helped to cheat a candidate through the exam.
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They said: "Catalis has clear standards in performance
for all employees.
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"Due to the seriousness of the allegations... the
instructor has been suspended from his duties... while a full investigation
takes place."
The Â鶹Éç approached Ganymede Tracklayers about their foreman Ashley Arthurs
turning up drunk to work.
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They said: "It is a condition of employment that
no employee shall report for duty in an unfit state due to the use of
alcohol or drugs...
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"Upon being notified by the Â鶹Éç that one of Ganymede's
employees was... in breach of this policy, the individual was immediately
suspended from his duties."
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But Ganymede insisted it was the job of the Network
Rail Controller of Site Safety – and not their foreman Ashley Arthurs
- to ensure that Pervez did not work without a valid track card.
In conclusion, Network Rail said: "We wish to state... that the
safety of the railway and its operations is without question our paramount
priority...
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"The company has taken the allegations extremely
seriously... and has completed as full an investigation as possible...
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"This investigation has concluded... that passenger
or train safety has not been compromised."
Notes to Editors
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If any of the above is used Whistleblower should be
credited.
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The programme will be shown at 9.00pm on Â鶹Éç ONE, Thursday
4 November 2004.
