Rail passenger 'terrified' by signal failure

A rail passenger said he was left “terrified” by the events surrounding an apparent “signal failure” in Belfast’s Great Victoria Street train station.

Speaking to Derry Now, the man said he had taken the 5.38pm Derry to Belfast train on Saturday.

He added: “The train was delayed when we reached the end of the line because it had been directed into a platform, from which there was another train waiting to pull out. It was pitch black outside and all I could think was, ‘What if we had hit that train?’ I was terrified.

“They had to reverse our train out, switch tracks and come back in. We eventually pulled into Platform 4.

“Before that they had casually announced there had been an ‘operational failure’ and we would be delayed getting off the train.

“A few minutes later, they announced they were reversing back as they had gone into the wrong platform, were switching rails and were coming back in again.

“A member of staff came into our carriage and said we had been signalled into the wrong platform and there was another six carriage train already sitting there.

“Had they done that, the doors would have opened and we would have stepped into a drop, on the wrong side, onto the rails.

“The consequences do not bear thinking about,” said the rail passenger.

In a requested statement from Translink, a spokesperson said: “Due to a signalling issue on Saturday evening, the 5.38pm train service from Derry to Belfast needed to change platform on approach to Great Victoria Street Station, resulting in a short delay and there was no risk to passenger safety.”

Commenting on Saturday night’s incident, Steve Bradley, Chairperson of the Into The West rail campaign, said taking everything into consideration, he would like to reinforce the fact that rail is quite a safe mode of transport.

“No-one has died using the railways for more that 25 years in Northern Ireland, yet, every year about 50 people die on the roads. That means that more than 1,000 people have died on the roads since anyone last died using rail.

“Rail is actually quite a safe way to travel. There will be the odd complication but that is unavoidable when you have an intricate network.”