LONDON — Britain’s Rail Accident Investigation Branch has issued five safety recommendations after a passenger was trapped by the doors of an Elizabeth line train in November and dragged along the platform at Ealing Broadway station in November 2024.
According to the RAIB, at about 12:09 a.m. on Nov. 24, 2024, the doors of a westbound train closed on a passenger’s hand as the person tried to board. The train then left the station with their hand still trapped, dragging the passenger for about 12 meters along the platform before another passenger and a member of platform staff pulled the person free.
RAIB said the passenger likely suffered a minor injury, but investigators have been unable to contact the individual to confirm the extent of harm.
The agency said that the mishap occurred because the driver closed the doors while passengers were still boarding and because a passenger attempted to board while the doors were closing. The train’s door system did not detect the trapped hand, and the driver was unaware that the passenger was caught before the train departed, the agency said.
RAIB said measures used by MTR Elizabeth line to control the risk of trap-and-drag events at Ealing Broadway were not effective and cited a possible contributing factor involving Network Rail’s risk assessment for the replacement and relocation of a waiting room building. RAIB also noted shortcomings in safety-critical communications after the incident and issues affecting the effectiveness of the platform’s public address equipment.
The RAIB recommendations include calls for the new Elizabeth line operator, GTS Rail Operations, to improve how trap-and-drag risks are understood and controlled; for Transport for London to improve driver views of the platform-train interface on CCTV; and for Network Rail to ensure station infrastructure changes are assessed and managed so they do not compromise passenger safety.
Trish Ashton, TfL’s director of rail, apologized to the BBC for the “distressing incident,” adding that the agency and MTR “fully co-operated with the RAIB investigation to help ensure this does not happen again.”
“We are working with our current operator, GTS, and Network Rail to address the recommendations made in the RAIB report,” she told the BBC.
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