More than 11,000 people were hurt in accidents at stations run by Network Rail between 2019 and the end of 2024, according to new data – with just short of 2,000 people rushed to hospital.
Network Rail: accident after accident after accident
Accident At Work Claim UK gathered information which revealed that there were 11,351 non-fatal injuries suffered in Network Rail-operated stations from January 2019 to December 2024. 1,978 cases note that the victim was taken directly to hospital.
It led to hundreds of people lining up to sue the body for their injuries, although Network Rail refused to disclose the outcome of over 700 compensation claims.
In March, Network Rail was fined £3,420,000 after the death of a track worker near Surbiton station in 2021, just two years after the death of two workers at Margram in Wales that led to a £3,750,000 fine.
London stations dominate the injury list
Six of the seven stations with the most injuries are London-based, according to Network Rail records.
1,581 people suffered harm at London St. Pancras International, with a further 1,026 incidents noted at London Paddington.
London Bridge, with 753 accidents, was narrowly ahead of Birmingham New Street (750).
Euston, Victoria and Waterloo station follow in the list, with Leeds (657) eighth. London Liverpool Street and Edinburgh Waverley round off the top ten.
Incidents across Network Rail’s stations led to 722 personal injury claims being launched against them between 2019 and 2024, at a rate of ten every month. Network Rail declined to give further information, stating in reply to Accident At Work UK’s Freedom of Information request: ““Knowledge of the likelihood of success of a claim against a particular organisation and the quantum of damages in settlements would act as a guide to whether it would be profitable for criminals to submit false claims to Network Rail.”
Elsewhere, Transport for London (TFL), which faced close to 1,000 personal injury claims between April 2020 and March 2024, disclosed to Accident At Work UK that it paid out £2,591,787.92 to 40 successful claimants, including one person who received £2,352,872.78.
Amputations, burns, and wounds feature among the recorded injuries
5,888 passengers were harmed in station accidents, the data says, as well as 2,059 other members of the public. 3,380 employees, plus a further 24 who were off-duty when the accident occurred, came to harm in and around stations.
On top of 4,368 injuries deemed ‘superficial’, a further 2,117 people were left with an open wound, and another 575 sustained nerve, muscle or blood vessel damage.
The Network Rail figures indicate that 268 suffered fractures, with another 111 experiencing a dislocation and 81 more receiving a crush injury.
80 burns or scales were recorded, as well as 153 incidents where the injured person lost consciousness.
3,594 of the injuries happened on platforms, with another 2,341 incidents seen on escalators. There were over a thousand injuries suffered on station concourses (1,634) and at ticket barriers (1,133).
Network Rail: people were drunk
Network Rail’s reports of each incident provided varying degrees of detail, with a common trend of public intoxication noticeable among them.
On 1,101 occasions, the report mentioned that a person involved in an incident was believed to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, leading to either them or others being hurt.
One young girl at London Victoria suffered cuts after falling over a broken glass bottle that had been left by passengers the reporter believed had been drinking at a nearby bar.
‘Assault’ was mentioned in reports as a cause on 498 occasions, with employees noted as the victim for 443 of them (89%). There are also references in the reports of staff suffering racial and homophobic abuse.
419 incidents involved some form of ticket issue, the reports suggest. All but eight included workers being harmed after passengers were found to be ‘travelling without a ticket’, ‘travelling with an invalid ticket’ and ‘behaving anti-socially’.
906 reports claim that the person injured was, ‘distracted/not paying attention’, while another 760 ‘tripped over own feet/missed footing [sic]’.
610 people suffered harm because they could not, or did not, stabilise themselves during travel on the train.
Overcrowding was also found to be at fault for at least 34 reported injuries.
Footwear issues caused a further 49 incidents, while one injured member of the public claimed that a ‘squashed grape’ caused their sprain injury.
Accident At Work Claim UK are workplace accident claim experts who offer a 24/7 advice service for people injured in public places.
Featured image via the Canary
