All trains were been cancelled in and out of Paddington for the best
part of this afternoon. Trains only started going through H&H about an
hour ago (18,00). We arrived at H&H just now and they were still
scrubbing the surface and surrounds of platform 3. All was roped off
there. The smell was over-powering. No further details. We're getting
about one suicide every three weeks on this line - usually at Southall
and now H&H. Appalling. And nothing seems to be getting done about
this situation.

And of course thousands of passengers for Heathrow missed their
flights, with consequent missed flight connections, hotel reservations
and appointments. HCon and HEX (aka BAA) failed to provide alternative
transportation.

And there did not seem to be any contingency plans at Paddington
despite this being a regular occurrence.

CJB.

wrote in message
...

All trains were been cancelled in and out of Paddington for the best
part of this afternoon. Trains only started going through H&H about an
hour ago (18,00). We arrived at H&H just now and they were still
scrubbing the surface and surrounds of platform 3. All was roped off
there. The smell was over-powering. No further details. We're getting
about one suicide every three weeks on this line - usually at Southall
and now H&H. Appalling. And nothing seems to be getting done about
this situation.

And of course thousands of passengers for Heathrow missed their
flights, with consequent missed flight connections, hotel reservations
and appointments. HCon and HEX (aka BAA) failed to provide alternative
transportation.

And there did not seem to be any contingency plans at Paddington
despite this being a regular occurrence.

CJB.

What would you suggest: snowploughs fitted on front of trains? permanent
max. 10mph limit through area? build diversionary route?

Bloody (literally) annoying but not a lot you can do about these selfish
buggers!

MaxB

In message , at 20:07:44 on
Tue, 19 Jul 2011, MaxB remarked:

What would you suggest: snowploughs fitted on front of trains?
permanent max. 10mph limit through area? build diversionary route?

As there are more than two tracks through the area, why can't they carry
on running trains on the remaining clear ones?

And as a more general point, indicate how people might take an alternate
route themselves (eg tube to Heathrow, from Waterloo to Reading etc).

Given that people are supposed to check in at Heathrow two or three
hours in advance, and it's only 55 mins by tube from Paddington to
Heathrow [change at Gloucester Rd or Earls Court depending on which
train arrives first], it shouldn't really cause anyone to miss a flight,
if they are given the information quickly enough.
--
Roland Perry

wrote:

And nothing seems to be getting done about this situation.

What would you propose? A certificate of mental stability from all passengers
checked at the turnstyle? A quick reaction cleanup squad? Just wondering...

On Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:39:44 -0600, Robert Neville
wrote:

wrote:

And nothing seems to be getting done about this situation.

What would you propose? A certificate of mental stability from all passengers
checked at the turnstyle?

That would help ensure everone got a seat!
--
Cheers

Peter

(Reply to address is a spam trap - pse reply to the group)

On 20 July, 09:37, Peter wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:39:44 -0600, Robert Neville
wrote:

wrote:

And nothing seems to be getting done about this situation.

What would you propose? A certificate of mental stability from all passengers
checked at the turnstyle? *

That would help ensure everone got a seat!
--
Cheers

Peter

(Reply to address is a spam trap - pse reply to the group)

One area that needs to be addressed is the police and fire brigade
approach to such incidents. It's usually the them that require a
complete shutdown. NR and the railway companies need to get together
with the emergency services to examine more efficient ways of
recovering the train service. It's difficult but it can be done.

"Tubeprune" wrote in message
...

On 20 July, 09:37, Peter wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:39:44 -0600, Robert Neville
wrote:

wrote:

And nothing seems to be getting done about this situation.

What would you propose? A certificate of mental stability from all
passengers
checked at the turnstyle?

That would help ensure everone got a seat!
--
Cheers

Peter

(Reply to address is a spam trap - pse reply to the group)

One area that needs to be addressed is the police and fire brigade
approach to such incidents. It's usually the them that require a
complete shutdown. NR and the railway companies need to get together
with the emergency services to examine more efficient ways of
recovering the train service. It's difficult but it can be done.

There was a report a few days ago about a new 3D laser device the police are
to use on road accidents to allow the site to be cleared more quickly and
the details then recreated on a computer for detailed study. It would be
nice to think this could be adopted by Network Rail, and not just for
suicides.

Although there has been some levity about the most recent incident, we have
to remember that the police are dealing with an unexplained death and need
to tread cautiously .

MaxB

In message , at 10:57:12 on
Wed, 20 Jul 2011, MaxB remarked:
Although there has been some levity about the most recent incident, we
have to remember that the police are dealing with an unexplained death
and need to tread cautiously

Better CCTV would allow an explanation to be forthcoming very quickly
for many of the suicides. And they wouldn't even need to get their feet
wet.
--
Roland Perry

*From:* Tubeprune
*Date:* Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:50:29 -0700 (PDT)


One area that needs to be addressed is the police and fire brigade
approach to such incidents. It's usually the them that require a
complete shutdown. NR and the railway companies need to get
together
with the emergency services to examine more efficient ways of
recovering the train service. It's difficult but it can be done.

Apart from any forensic work, I think the amount of time taken depends a
lot on whether the person is still alive or not. Every effort will be made
to get out a person that's alive without any additional damage, even if
this means cutting off a limb when they're trapped. It may be possible to
remove an inaccessible dead person quicker if the train is moved past the
body, as long as the person has obviously been certified dead and suitable
evidence taken for the coroner and any subsequent damage has no impact for
the autopsy - i.e. a leg being chopped off if the train is moved probably
won't make much difference to the overall result as far as the coroner is
concerned. I know this sort of thing has been done in the past.

Each one under is different. On the Underground, in the deep level
stations with the suicide pits, acess to the person or body is generally
easier. However, it can still take time to actually get the person or body
out. Some of the time spent may be waiting for the "heavy gang" to arrive
if, for example, the train needs jacking up. In many cases, the subsequent
police action is very short by comparison, unless foul play is suspected,
in which case the station (and track) may be shut for hours.

Another delay can be the state of the body. A body that is visibly in one
piece is much easier to deal with than one that has been chopped up into
various pieces and may be scattered over a wide area (especially when hit
by a fast train) or stuck to the underside of the train. In these
circumstances, the police will normally want to do a thorough track search
before giving the track back for use. For some reason, perhaps because of
it's shape, the head is sometimes some distance away from the rest of the
body and may take a while to find, depending on how far it's rolled and
the state of the trackside.

Roger

wrote:

And there did not seem to be any contingency plans at Paddington
despite this being a regular occurrence.

Is there some especial reason for it happening regularly at Paddington - an
open home in the area for instance?