Network Rail fined £3.75 million after two track workers killed by train

Michael Lewis and Gareth Delbridge were killed while carrying out track maintenance at Margam in Wales on 3 July 2019. They were hit by a passenger train travelling from Swansea to London Paddington. A third worker “narrowly” escaped being struck by the train, said rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), which brought the prosecution.

Photograph: Office of Rail and Road (ORR)

The regulator said the trio were working on the track without site or distant lookout protection to warn them about approaching trains, or a line block which would have prevented trains from travelling on the section of track they were maintaining.

The ORR’s investigation found “systematic and wide-ranging safety failures” by Network Rail. The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It was fined £3.75 million and ordered to pay costs of £175,000 at Swansea Crown Court on 14 February.

“Much progress has been made in reducing risk to track workers, with new protections introduced,” said Richard Hines, HM Chief Inspector of Railways. “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.”

Network Rail said the deaths “should never have happened”, and that it had invested more than £300 million in reforming its working practices to keep workers safe.

“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,” said Nick Millington, route director at Network Rail Wales & Borders.