Unseen passenger run over by four Tube trains after falling onto the tracks
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A passenger was repeatedly run over by trains after falling onto the tracks on a London Underground line. The incident happened at Stratford station, a new report has today revealed, and the passenger died. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch said in the build-up to the incident on Boxing Day 2023, the passenger had at 1.57pm got off a Jubilee Line train at the station before sitting on a platform bench opposite the point where they left the train.
At around 2.45pm, the passenger stood up, "but immediately stumbled forwards and fell from the platform onto the adjacent track," the report said. "Unable to get to a position of safety, the passenger lay on thetrack undiscovered for around 5 minutes before being struck by an arriving train, which then stopped normally in the platform.
"The presence of the passenger remained unknown and a further three inbound trains entered the terminal platform and went through the location where the passenger was lying.". The drivers of the first and second trains saw nothing, the report said. The third operator saw something but did not recognise it as a person.
Worryingly, the fourth train also ran over the passenger. This was even though by this point a customer service assistant was aware they were on the tracks. The passenger was fatally injured. The report said they fell at a time when there were no other passengers or staff present on the platform and there was no intervention made to prevent the first train from arriving.
RAIB investigators found that the operator of the first train did not see the passenger on the track ahead of the train as it arrived at the platform. "This was possibly because their level ofattention was reduced due to the use of automatic train operation," the report said.
