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-   -   Fatality at Balham? (https://www.londonbanter.co.uk/london-transport/1384-fatality-balham.html)

Chris Small February 4th 04 10:19 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 
Any idea what happened at Balham station today? No trains were
stopping there this morning and all services were severely delayed (up
to an hour or more). The announcements just mentioned a fatality
without giving any other details.

Chris

Henry February 4th 04 01:37 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
"Chris Small" wrote in message
...
Any idea what happened at Balham station today? No trains were
stopping there this morning and all services were severely delayed (up
to an hour or more). The announcements just mentioned a fatality
without giving any other details.

Chris


From BBC London "News in Brief"

Body found on tracks
A body has been found on the tracks at Balham railway station in south-west
London, it has been confirmed.
A spokesman for British Transport Police said the body was discovered about
0100 GMT on Wednesday.
The body has not yet been identified and it is not known whether the person
is male or female.
The station was closed on Wednesday morning while British Transport Police
investigated the incident.



PS February 6th 04 05:10 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
Funny though, the night just before or just after this incident (should be
the same
day if converted to GMT) I was dreaming that "I was dreaming [i.e. I dreamed
another
dream when I was dreaming] at New Cross Gate with one of my friends" (with
the
station severely different from the real one, as I've never been to UK.).

My friend insisted on taking photos on the new ELL stock (Can't imagine!!?)
STANDING ON THE TRACK, and refuse to get onto the platform when I tried
to rescue him with my umbrella. I decided to flee at last and when I just
about to
get outside the station I saw a train approaching the track where my friend
would be.
When I "got up" for the first time, I switched on my computer and saw an
"one-under"
3D computer graphic, then I knew that my friend "was dead". Soon after I
was about
to leave the room I woke up "again", and this time I need to go to the
university for
lessons.

Of course, neither my friend and I was involved in any "one-under" accident
in UK,
as both of us are Hong-kongers and have never been to UK.


Henry wrote in message ...
"Chris Small" wrote in message
...
Any idea what happened at Balham station today? No trains were
stopping there this morning and all services were severely delayed (up
to an hour or more). The announcements just mentioned a fatality
without giving any other details.

Chris


From BBC London "News in Brief"

Body found on tracks
A body has been found on the tracks at Balham railway station in

south-west
London, it has been confirmed.
A spokesman for British Transport Police said the body was discovered

about
0100 GMT on Wednesday.
The body has not yet been identified and it is not known whether the

person
is male or female.
The station was closed on Wednesday morning while British Transport Police
investigated the incident.





CIG_BIG_CIG February 6th 04 09:07 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
"Henry" wrote in message ...
"Chris Small" wrote in message
...
Any idea what happened at Balham station today? No trains were
stopping there this morning and all services were severely delayed (up
to an hour or more). The announcements just mentioned a fatality
without giving any other details.

Chris


From BBC London "News in Brief"

Body found on tracks
A body has been found on the tracks at Balham railway station in south-west
London, it has been confirmed.
A spokesman for British Transport Police said the body was discovered about
0100 GMT on Wednesday.
The body has not yet been identified and it is not known whether the person
is male or female.
The station was closed on Wednesday morning while British Transport Police
investigated the incident.


Male person, scene treated as a crime scene by BTP and body not
recovered until 1300 approx. The lack of a contingency plan by SCT for
the main lines being closed during the peaks meant services ran up to
180 mins late!

Jack Taylor February 6th 04 09:54 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 

"CIG_BIG_CIG" wrote in message
om...

Male person, scene treated as a crime scene by BTP and body not
recovered until 1300 approx. The lack of a contingency plan by SCT for
the main lines being closed during the peaks meant services ran up to
180 mins late!


Which once again highlights how bloody disgraceful it is that nowadays the
police are permitted to cause disruption on such a scale to the general
public. Perhaps they should be forced to compensate all of those caught up
in their incompetence (as everyone else seems to be expected to these
days) - that might focus their minds to get the job done more quickly.
Bearing in mind that this incident allegedly occurred at around 01:00 the
railway should have been cleared and open for operation by 05:00 at the
latest.



Baloo February 7th 04 06:41 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 

"Jack Taylor" wrote in message
...

"CIG_BIG_CIG" wrote in message
om...

Male person, scene treated as a crime scene by BTP and body not
recovered until 1300 approx. The lack of a contingency plan by SCT for
the main lines being closed during the peaks meant services ran up to
180 mins late!


Which once again highlights how bloody disgraceful it is that nowadays the
police are permitted to cause disruption on such a scale to the general
public. Perhaps they should be forced to compensate all of those caught up
in their incompetence (as everyone else seems to be expected to these
days) - that might focus their minds to get the job done more quickly.
Bearing in mind that this incident allegedly occurred at around 01:00 the
railway should have been cleared and open for operation by 05:00 at the
latest.


Until, of course, its a member of your family that is the victim of the
suspicious death, when you would be asking why the police didn't do
everything possible at the scene to detect the offender. These things take
time, thats a fact of life.

regards

Baloo



Brian Williams February 7th 04 09:53 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 


--

"Baloo" wrote in message
...

"Jack Taylor" wrote in message
...

"CIG_BIG_CIG" wrote in message
om...

Male person, scene treated as a crime scene by BTP and body not
recovered until 1300 approx. The lack of a contingency plan by SCT for
the main lines being closed during the peaks meant services ran up to
180 mins late!


Which once again highlights how bloody disgraceful it is that nowadays

the
police are permitted to cause disruption on such a scale to the general
public. Perhaps they should be forced to compensate all of those caught

up
in their incompetence (as everyone else seems to be expected to these
days) - that might focus their minds to get the job done more quickly.
Bearing in mind that this incident allegedly occurred at around 01:00

the
railway should have been cleared and open for operation by 05:00 at the
latest.


Until, of course, its a member of your family that is the victim of the
suspicious death, when you would be asking why the police didn't do
everything possible at the scene to detect the offender. These things take
time, thats a fact of life.

regards

Baloo


They don't seem to take this amount of time when it's a road accident.
Neither do they take so long on other European railways, four hours being
about the maximum. On SNCF, at least, a member of the equivalent of the
Coroner's staff will accompany the police/fire brigade (the latter cover all
first-line response ambulance duties) to the incident scenre to evaluate the
evidence.
Brian



Matt Ashby February 7th 04 10:10 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 
Male person, scene treated as a crime scene by BTP and body not
recovered until 1300 approx. The lack of a contingency plan by SCT for
the main lines being closed during the peaks meant services ran up to
180 mins late!


Which once again highlights how bloody disgraceful it is that nowadays the
police are permitted to cause disruption on such a scale to the general
public. Perhaps they should be forced to compensate all of those caught up
in their incompetence (as everyone else seems to be expected to these
days) - that might focus their minds to get the job done more quickly.
Bearing in mind that this incident allegedly occurred at around 01:00 the
railway should have been cleared and open for operation by 05:00 at the
latest.


Which would give people wanting to kill people / dispose of bodies a
very good reason to do so on the railways. "Oh, it'll be OK - the
police only have 4 hours to investigate this scene and pick up all the
forensics, so they'll never connect it to us".

Surely when investigating a crime, the police should be given all the
time that they need.

DJO February 7th 04 10:38 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 

"Matt Ashby" wrote in message
m...

Surely when investigating a crime, the police should be given all the
time that they need.


So why then when a road accident occurs they clear things up much quicker?


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Jack Taylor February 7th 04 12:07 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 

"Baloo" wrote in message
...

Until, of course, its a member of your family that is the victim of the
suspicious death, when you would be asking why the police didn't do
everything possible at the scene to detect the offender. These things take
time, thats a fact of life.


It's only in the last handful of years that it has taken anything like the
ludicrous amounts of time that it now takes to resolve such matters. That,
despite the significant advances in forensic technology and DNA testing etc.
that have been made. As other posters have noted: it doesn't take as long
anywhere else in Europe, it doesn't take as long to resolve a road incident
and it never used to take as long to resolve railway accidents or suicides
as it does now, suspicious or otherwise.



Pat Duffy February 7th 04 01:47 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
On Sat, 7 Feb 2004 11:38:19 -0000, "DJO" djdublo att liamtoh dott
moc wrote:


"Matt Ashby" wrote in message
om...

Surely when investigating a crime, the police should be given all the
time that they need.


So why then when a road accident occurs they clear things up much quicker?


Because in a road accident the perpetrator is normally one of the
drivers involved and generally still present at the scene, with tyre
marks on the road/dents in the car/other witnesses present, all of
which make working out what happened quite easy.

Suspect that in a one-under or similar rail accident it's quite a bit
harder to work out what happened and no easy-collectible evidence (no
dented cars or tyre marks to photograph).

I'd have thought you could show a little more compassion for the
victim, it's not like this happens every day. Reserve your vitriol for
real incompetences like cracked rails.

Roland Perry February 7th 04 01:51 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
In message , Matt Ashby
writes
Surely when investigating a crime, the police should be given all the
time that they need.


There have to be some external parameters. What if there was a death at
7pm on a Friday, and the police said "we want until noon on Monday,
because we don't work weekends any more". That's an extreme example, but
surely the long time it took to investigate this particular incident
points to a lack of immediately available resources, rather than a lot
of work being required.
--
Roland Perry

Five Cats February 7th 04 04:49 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
In message , Jack Taylor
writes

"Baloo" wrote in message
...

Until, of course, its a member of your family that is the victim of the
suspicious death, when you would be asking why the police didn't do
everything possible at the scene to detect the offender. These things take
time, thats a fact of life.


It's only in the last handful of years that it has taken anything like the
ludicrous amounts of time that it now takes to resolve such matters. That,
despite the significant advances in forensic technology and DNA testing etc.
that have been made.


Before the advances in DNA testing etc., the only thing to do with blood
etc. was wash it away, not sample it and record where that sample was
taken from.


As other posters have noted: it doesn't take as long
anywhere else in Europe, it doesn't take as long to resolve a road incident
and it never used to take as long to resolve railway accidents or suicides
as it does now, suspicious or otherwise.



--
Five Cats
Email to: cats_spam at uk2 dot net

Joe February 7th 04 06:30 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
it's not like this happens every day.

pedant
Actually, on average (according to BTP statistics), it does
/pedant
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DJO February 7th 04 06:50 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
Hardly vitriol! Look at the news today, sadly some poeple died in a road
accident near Liverpool, which is a tragic thing to happen, but the only
picture availble on the TV news was that of skid marks on a road even though
the time between the accident happening and the TV crews arriving would in
all probablility been shorter than the length of time the police took to
investigate at Balham.

On the roads it seems whn a tragedy happens it is cleared up a.s.a.p, on the
railways there is no similar hurry. Maybe my perceptions of these things is
wrong, and if so I shall stand corrected, but don't accuse me of vitriol,
thanks.

It is often all to easy to tell exactly what happened in a suicide by train,
the driver is often in these cases the only poor soul to witness the person
throwing themselves in front of his train.

Even in situations where a road is closed due some tragic situation, the
police can divert cars round side roads etc. You cannot easily do that in
trains, perhap they should bear that in mind? Or am I being unreasonable?

Djo
"Pat Duffy" wrote in message
...

So why then when a road accident occurs they clear things up much

quicker?

Because in a road accident the perpetrator is normally one of the
drivers involved and generally still present at the scene, with tyre
marks on the road/dents in the car/other witnesses present, all of
which make working out what happened quite easy.

Suspect that in a one-under or similar rail accident it's quite a bit
harder to work out what happened and no easy-collectible evidence (no
dented cars or tyre marks to photograph).

I'd have thought you could show a little more compassion for the
victim, it's not like this happens every day. Reserve your vitriol for
real incompetences like cracked rails.



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Jeff McGhie February 7th 04 07:38 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
"DJO" djdublo att liamtoh dott moc wrote in message
...

"Matt Ashby" wrote in message
m...

Surely when investigating a crime, the police should be given all the
time that they need.


So why then when a road accident occurs they clear things up much quicker?



They aren't. Up here in the Midlands its quite common for roads (I'm talking
major commuter routes, not country lanes) to be closed through the morning
rush hour following fatal RTA's in the early hours.

Jeff.



Graeme Wall February 7th 04 07:45 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
In message
"Jack Taylor" wrote:


"CIG_BIG_CIG" wrote in message
om...

Male person, scene treated as a crime scene by BTP and body not
recovered until 1300 approx. The lack of a contingency plan by SCT for
the main lines being closed during the peaks meant services ran up to
180 mins late!


Which once again highlights how bloody disgraceful it is that nowadays the
police are permitted to cause disruption on such a scale to the general
public. Perhaps they should be forced to compensate all of those caught up
in their incompetence (as everyone else seems to be expected to these
days) - that might focus their minds to get the job done more quickly.
Bearing in mind that this incident allegedly occurred at around 01:00 the
railway should have been cleared and open for operation by 05:00 at the
latest.



You are an expert on police procedure and the requirements of
Scenes-of-Crimes operations then? They make one false step and everyone from
the Home Secretary all the way down to the Sun newspaper is going to jump all
over them. They don't need, but certainly get, plenty of cretins complaining
because theor oh-so-important journey has been delayed 5 minutes. If they
screw up a muder conviction by not getting the forensics right in the first
place, those self-same cretins will be the first to start demanding that
heads should roll.

--
Graeme Wall
This address is not read, substitute trains for rail.
Transport Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/index.html

Graeme Wall February 7th 04 07:47 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
In message
"DJO" djdublo att liamtoh dott moc wrote:


"Matt Ashby" wrote in message
m...

Surely when investigating a crime, the police should be given all the
time that they need.


So why then when a road accident occurs they clear things up much quicker?


Do they? Recently they have shut the M3 for 4+ hours, the M25 for about 6
hours and so-on. And those were for accidents, not suspected murders.

--
Graeme Wall
This address is not read, substitute trains for rail.
Transport Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/index.html

Graeme Wall February 7th 04 07:48 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
In message
Roland Perry wrote:

In message , Matt Ashby
writes
Surely when investigating a crime, the police should be given all the
time that they need.


There have to be some external parameters. What if there was a death at
7pm on a Friday, and the police said "we want until noon on Monday,
because we don't work weekends any more". That's an extreme example, but
surely the long time it took to investigate this particular incident
points to a lack of immediately available resources, rather than a lot
of work being required.


Points to nothing of the sort, how do you know what amount of work was
required?

--
Graeme Wall
This address is not read, substitute trains for rail.
Transport Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/index.html

Richard February 7th 04 08:57 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 

"Jeff McGhie" wrote in message
...
So why then when a road accident occurs they clear things up much

quicker?

They aren't. Up here in the Midlands its quite common for roads (I'm

talking
major commuter routes, not country lanes) to be closed through the morning
rush hour following fatal RTA's in the early hours.


Only car-on-car. Remember train crashes often see the line closed for days.

Pedestrian killings are regularly mopped up and ignored within an hour or
two.

Richard



David Hansen February 8th 04 06:43 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 
On Sat, 7 Feb 2004 21:57:19 -0000 someone who may be "Richard"
wrote this:-

Only car-on-car. Remember train crashes often see the line closed for days.


It now seems to be weeks.

Pedestrian killings are regularly mopped up and ignored within an hour or
two.


That's easy. The police blame the pedestrian and don't want to
inconvenience the really important motorists.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

David Hansen February 8th 04 06:47 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 
On 7 Feb 2004 03:10:11 -0800 someone who may be
(Matt Ashby) wrote this:-

Surely when investigating a crime, the police should be given all the
time that they need.


The police are incompetent enough as it is. In fact they are, in
common with much of the legal world, one of the last bastions of all
that Mrs Thatcher complained about. Giving the police all the time
they need sounds to me like the sort of thing party politicians say
when they are trying to please the public.




--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

David Hansen February 8th 04 06:48 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 
On Sat, 7 Feb 2004 17:49:28 +0000 someone who may be Five Cats
] wrote this:-

Before the advances in DNA testing etc., the only thing to do with blood
etc. was wash it away, not sample it and record where that sample was
taken from.


This helps investigation of the cause in what way precisely?


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

MartinM February 8th 04 12:44 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
David Hansen wrote in message . ..
On 7 Feb 2004 03:10:11 -0800 someone who may be
(Matt Ashby) wrote this:-

Surely when investigating a crime, the police should be given all the
time that they need.


The police are incompetent enough as it is. In fact they are, in
common with much of the legal world, one of the last bastions of all
that Mrs Thatcher complained about. Giving the police all the time
they need sounds to me like the sort of thing party politicians say
when they are trying to please the public.


I was told by station personnel that the body in question had a knife
wound; so hardly a routine fatality. What was amazing was that SC
could not organise a diversion as they do at weekends.

John Watkins February 8th 04 02:09 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
MartinM wrote:
David Hansen wrote in message . ..

On 7 Feb 2004 03:10:11 -0800 someone who may be
(Matt Ashby) wrote this:-


Surely when investigating a crime, the police should be given all the
time that they need.


The police are incompetent enough as it is. In fact they are, in
common with much of the legal world, one of the last bastions of all
that Mrs Thatcher complained about. Giving the police all the time
they need sounds to me like the sort of thing party politicians say
when they are trying to please the public.



I was told by station personnel that the body in question had a knife
wound; so hardly a routine fatality. What was amazing was that SC
could not organise a diversion as they do at weekends.


I suspect that is because during the weekday peak the system is at
capacity and it isn't at weekends. There are probably also power-supply
issues on any diversion route as well as the route being slower.

I was rather suprised though that SCT didn't turn trains at East Croydon
- they were still well out by the evening.

John.

Fat Richard February 8th 04 03:56 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
"Jack Taylor" wrote in message k...
"CIG_BIG_CIG" wrote in message
om...

Male person, scene treated as a crime scene by BTP and body not
recovered until 1300 approx. The lack of a contingency plan by SCT for
the main lines being closed during the peaks meant services ran up to
180 mins late!


Which once again highlights how bloody disgraceful it is that nowadays the
police are permitted to cause disruption on such a scale to the general
public. Perhaps they should be forced to compensate all of those caught up
in their incompetence (as everyone else seems to be expected to these
days) - that might focus their minds to get the job done more quickly.
Bearing in mind that this incident allegedly occurred at around 01:00 the
railway should have been cleared and open for operation by 05:00 at the
latest.


On the day in question there were many rumours doing the rounds
including that the person was a 14yr old "graffiti artist". Any more
news on the truth yet ?
I have to say that I was amazed how the Sth central service was still
doing at 13.00 when I went to work some 12 hours after the initial
incident. Just to show how bad:

13:02 Victoria to Portsmouth CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:03 Victoria to Dorking CANCELLED AT EPSOM 36" Late
13:05 Victoria to Sutton CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:06 Victoria to Brighton CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:07 Victoria to West Croydon CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:11 Victoria to London Bridge CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:15 Victoria to Caterham CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:17 Victoria to Southampton CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:20 Victoria to Epsom CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:22 Victoria to London Bridge arrived 50" late having started CJN
13:23 Victoria to East Grinstead CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:25 Victoria to Epsom Downs CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:32 Victoria to Chichester CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:33 Victoria to Horsham Arrived 20" late having started CJN
13:35 Victoria to Sutton CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:36 Victoria to Brighton Ran E Croydon to Brighton only
13:37 Victoria to West Croydon Ran RIGHT TIME Claphm to WC !
13:41 Victoria to London Bridge Ran 6" late
13:45 Victoria to Caterham CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:47 Victoria to Hastings Ran E Croydon to Eastbourne only 30" late
13:50 Victoria to Epsom CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:52 Victoria to London Bridge CANCELLED AT VICTORIA
13:53 Victoria to East Ginstead Ran East Croydon to East grinstead 58"
late
13:55 Victoria to Epsom CANCELLED AT VICTORIA

!!!!

I actually done Selhurst to Kings Cross by CAR instead ! Not something
I would normally do even in quite bad times/

Fat Richard

Joe February 8th 04 05:04 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
Until, of course, its a member of your family that is the victim of the
suspicious death, when you would be asking why the police didn't do
everything possible at the scene to detect the offender. These things

take
time, thats a fact of life.


It's only in the last handful of years that it has taken anything like the
ludicrous amounts of time that it now takes to resolve such matters. That,
despite the significant advances in forensic technology and DNA testing

etc.
that have been made. As other posters have noted: it doesn't take as long
anywhere else in Europe, it doesn't take as long to resolve a road

incident
and it never used to take as long to resolve railway accidents or suicides
as it does now, suspicious or otherwise.


Surely the best option would to check CCTV if there is some and if it shows
a push then they can collect the evidence and if there is no CCTV ask the
driver and do the same. They can spend time checking pushes, but if its a
suicide then they should have no reason to collect DNA etc,
--
To reply direct, remove NOSPAM and replace with railwaysonline
For Train Information, The Latest News & Best photos around check out the
Award Winning Railways Online at http://www.railwaysonline.co.uk
"Hating Thames Trains since 2003"



Roland Perry February 8th 04 05:37 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
In message , Graeme Wall
writes
surely the long time it took to investigate this particular incident
points to a lack of immediately available resources, rather than a lot
of work being required.


Points to nothing of the sort, how do you know what amount of work was
required?


Simply that 12 hours to recover a body appears excessive.
--
Roland Perry

Richard J. February 8th 04 08:22 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
Joe wrote:
Until, of course, its a member of your family that is the victim of
the suspicious death, when you would be asking why the police
didn't do everything possible at the scene to detect the offender.
These things take time, thats a fact of life.


It's only in the last handful of years that it has taken anything
like the ludicrous amounts of time that it now takes to resolve such
matters. That, despite the significant advances in forensic
technology and DNA testing etc. that have been made. As other
posters have noted: it doesn't take as long anywhere else in
Europe, it doesn't take as long to resolve a road incident and it
never used to take as long to resolve railway accidents or suicides
as it does now, suspicious or otherwise.


Surely the best option would to check CCTV if there is some and if it
shows a push then they can collect the evidence and if there is no
CCTV ask the driver and do the same. They can spend time checking
pushes, but if its a suicide then they should have no reason to
collect DNA etc,


Pushes? Suicide? Your post was 4 hours after another in the same thread
which said that the body had a knife wound. In this instance, it does
sound as if a thorough scene-of-crime investigation was justified, whatever
we might feel about other railway accidents.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)


David Hansen February 8th 04 08:28 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 20:45:14 +0000 someone who may be Graeme Wall
wrote this:-

They don't need, but certainly get, plenty of cretins complaining
because theor oh-so-important journey has been delayed 5 minutes.


Nice try. However, the delays mentioned din this thread are rather
more than five minutes.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

Jack Taylor February 9th 04 12:04 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 

"Fat Richard" wrote in message
om...
I have to say that I was amazed how the Sth central service was still
doing at 13.00 when I went to work some 12 hours after the initial
incident.


Still as bad at 20:00, when I passed through the area. Numerous up trains
running between 20 and 90 minutes late due to the knock-on effect of crew
displacement earlier in the day, down trains equally as late if not later,
where not cancelled. Victoria concourse awash with irate passengers.

Is this any way to run a railway?



Ian Johnston February 9th 04 08:46 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 
"Jack Taylor" wrote in message k...
"CIG_BIG_CIG" wrote in message
om...

Male person, scene treated as a crime scene by BTP and body not
recovered until 1300 approx.


Which once again highlights how bloody disgraceful it is that nowadays the
police are permitted to cause disruption on such a scale to the general
public. Perhaps they should be forced to compensate all of those caught up
in their incompetence (as everyone else seems to be expected to these
days) - that might focus their minds to get the job done more quickly.
Bearing in mind that this incident allegedly occurred at around 01:00 the
railway should have been cleared and open for operation by 05:00 at the
latest.


I take it this is meant as a rather morbid joke? Just in case it isn't
....

A body is found, possibly badly damaged - had it been hit by a train?
- at 1am and you expect the police to complete their scene-of-crime
investigations within a couple of hours, in the middle of the night?

By the way, I'm told that the new system is that SOCO's are only
called out when it's not known how the body got there, so it could be
a murder victim. When railway staff see the person alive - ie clear
suicides - it's now handled at a less painstaking level.

Nonetheless, if one of my friends or relatives was found dead on a
railway at 1am, I'd be a bit upset if no more than a cursory
examination of the scene took place.

Ian

Ian Johnston February 9th 04 08:49 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 
"Jack Taylor" wrote in message k...

It's only in the last handful of years that it has taken anything like the
ludicrous amounts of time that it now takes to resolve such matters. That,
despite the significant advances in forensic technology and DNA testing etc.
that have been made.


No, it's *because* of those advances. If there is a suspicion of
murder, it's now worth looking for very, very much smaller pieces of
evidence than ten or even five years ago. And that takes longer.

As other posters have noted: it doesn't take as long
anywhere else in Europe, it doesn't take as long to resolve a road incident
and it never used to take as long to resolve railway accidents or suicides
as it does now, suspicious or otherwise.


And if there is a chance that it's not a railway accident, but a
murder victim dumped on the line ... ?

Ian

Ian Johnston February 9th 04 08:54 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 
David Hansen wrote in message . ..
On Sat, 7 Feb 2004 21:57:19 -0000 someone who may be "Richard"
wrote this:-

Only car-on-car. Remember train crashes often see the line closed for days.


It now seems to be weeks.


Care to give an example? And don't try Great Heck, because a friend of
mine was duty Railtrack officer there, and I know what they were
looking for, where they had to look, and what they found. It's not
pretty.

Bear in mind as well that roads are hard to damage and can quickly be
patched up if they are damaged. Neither is true of railway lines,
particularly where pointwork or overhead are concerened.

Ian

Ian Johnston February 9th 04 08:57 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 
Roland Perry wrote in message ...

That's an extreme example, but
surely the long time it took to investigate this particular incident
points to a lack of immediately available resources, rather than a lot
of work being required.


Or points to it happening at one o'clock in the morning in the middle
of winter, and them needing a few hours of daylight to do a proper
search of the area?

Ian

David Hansen February 9th 04 11:39 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 
On 9 Feb 2004 01:49:51 -0800 someone who may be
(Ian Johnston) wrote this:-

If there is a suspicion of
murder, it's now worth looking for very, very much smaller pieces of
evidence than ten or even five years ago. And that takes longer.


Despite such "fingertip search" activities by the police it remains
a fact that they and the "experts" advising them did not recognise
the AWS receiver or the ATP master byte card of the train that
crashed at Southall. Had it not been for railway staff Inspector
Clouseau and their colleagues would have lost these items.



--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

David Hansen February 9th 04 11:58 AM

Fatality at Balham?
 
On 9 Feb 2004 01:54:48 -0800 someone who may be
(Ian Johnston) wrote this:-

Only car-on-car. Remember train crashes often see the line closed for days.


It now seems to be weeks.


Care to give an example?


Ladbroke Grove, Hatfield. Potters Bar I'm not sure of (the Railway
Inspectorate used to be sufficiently proud to mention the time taken
to clear sites in their reports, the so-called health and safety mob
are rather less keen).

And don't try Great Heck,


Ah, someone else who thinks that they can read my mind. In that case
I might be persuaded that the long closure was worth it.

However, compare all these cases, including Great Heck, with the way
services were restored after Harrow & Wealdstone, Lewisham St Johns
and Clapham Junction. I don't think the world is better off because
of the long periods lines are closed for and neither does it help
discover the causes any better.

Bear in mind as well that roads are hard to damage and can quickly be
patched up if they are damaged. Neither is true of railway lines,


Debatable.

particularly where pointwork


Hence the substitution of plain line. However, if components are
available, such as suitable switches, then it does not take that
long to install switch and crossing work.

or overhead are concerened.


Overhead is quick and easy to install, even if masts have been
destroyed. One may need a speed restriction for a few days until a
proper repair is made, but that is a process that is easy enough to
manage.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

David Hansen February 9th 04 12:02 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
On 9 Feb 2004 01:57:26 -0800 someone who may be
(Ian Johnston) wrote this:-

Or points to it happening at one o'clock in the morning in the middle
of winter, and them needing a few hours of daylight to do a proper
search of the area?


The steel wheels on steel rails do not really pick up evidence and
distribute it further down the track. If necessary fit some sheets
of plastic under the rails and let the trains pass. Easy peasy, even
with conductor rails.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

Roland Perry February 9th 04 12:18 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 
In message , Ian
Johnston writes
Or points to it happening at one o'clock in the morning in the middle
of winter, and them needing a few hours of daylight to do a proper
search of the area?


Or that the "resource" they are missing is floodlighting?
--
Roland Perry

Peter Masson February 9th 04 12:20 PM

Fatality at Balham?
 

"Jack Taylor" wrote in message
...

"Fat Richard" wrote in message
om...
I have to say that I was amazed how the Sth central service was still
doing at 13.00 when I went to work some 12 hours after the initial
incident.


Still as bad at 20:00, when I passed through the area. Numerous up trains
running between 20 and 90 minutes late due to the knock-on effect of crew
displacement earlier in the day, down trains equally as late if not later,
where not cancelled. Victoria concourse awash with irate passengers.

Is this any way to run a railway?

Whether or not the incident could or should have been cleared more quickly,
it does seem that SC and NR did not have an adequate contingency plan to
cope with a line closure at Balham. In the Metro area, suspension of the
whole of the Victoria service (apart from Victoria - London Bridge via
Denmark Hill) would still have left most stations with a London Bridge
service. For express services, the capacity of London Bridge to accept
diversions should be known, and those that couldn't be fitted in there
should have been cancelled or terminated further south - East Croydon,
Gatwick, Three Bridges or Haywards Heath, for example. Was the Tulse Hill,
Herne Hill route used for diversions to Victoria? - probably the best use of
the limited capacity available this way would be for Gatwick Express
(bearing in mind the effect on passengers of missed planes) - with SC
passengers conveyed from Victoria on GatEx to Gatwick, or by LUL to London
Bridge.

Peter




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