Network Rail has been fined £3.75m and ordered to pay costs of £175,000 over the deaths of two track workers at Margam, Wales in July 2019.
The rail operator pleaded guilty to an offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, which followed an investigation and prosecution by industry regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
Image courtesy of RMT
The incident involved three employees of Network Rail who were working on the track at Margam - Michael Lewis, Gareth Delbridge and a third worker.
A passenger train struck Mr Lewis and Mr Delbridge, who suffered fatal injuries, and narrowly missed the other worker.
The ORR said the trio were carrying out track maintenance work without site or distant lookout protection to warn them of approaching trains, or a line block, which would have prevented trains from travelling on the section of the track they were working on.
It said its investigation found systematic and wide-ranging safety failures by Network Rail, resulting from inadequacies in its processes and management systems.
These were similar to the findings of ORR inspections in 2018 and 2019 and from other previous incidents, which led the regulator to take formal enforcement action to require Network Rail to improve track worker safety.
Chief Inspector of Railways Richard Hines said: ‘Our thoughts continue to be with the family, friends and colleagues of Michael Lewis and Gareth Delbridge.
‘The rail industry needs to do all it practically can to help each worker get home safely every day. Much progress has been made in reducing risk to track workers, with new protections introduced.
‘The industry is committed to seeing these technologies implemented further and faster. This will require a relentless, collective, industry focus to continue to drive down risk to ensure that tragic incidents such as this are never repeated.’
The ORR said that since the incident there has been a step change in the way the rail industry manages track worker safety, with Network Rail almost entirely ending red-zone working, when lines remain live during track work, and employing new technologies to reduce the risk of harm.
‘However, further incidents that resulted in track worker fatalities near Roade in 2020 and Surbiton in 2021 and reports of near misses means Network Rail must remain committed in its focus on track worker safety.’
Network Rail Wales and Borders route director Nick Millington said: 'We know that the tragic deaths of our colleagues, Gareth Delbridge and Michael "Spike" Lewis, should never have happened on our railway and that has been reflected by today's judgment.
‘Since this tragedy, we have continued to transform the safety of our workforce through the development of new technology and planning tools, which have almost entirely eliminated the need to work on the railway when trains are running.’
