Aren’t bad things meant to come in threes? Well the tramway of the British Isles are disproving that theory as following on from a collision in Blackpool and derailments on both Manchester Metrolink and the Manx Electric Railway there have been further incidents in both Edinburgh and Croydon whilst an investigation has been launched into a pedestrian being hit by a tram in Manchester back in May.
The first of these latest incidents took place close to Edinburgh Park Station on Monday 6th July with a man being hit by a tram as he crossed the tracks. The incident happened at around 1400 and occurred when the man was crossing the tracks at Lochside Crescent. Circumstances behind what happened have not yet been revealed but a full investigation will take place to get to the bottom of this. As a result of the Ambulance service having to attend the scene – the man was taken to hospital although did walk to the Ambulance so his injuries were not believed to be serious – services were suspended between Edinburgh Park Station and Edinburgh Airport for approximately 90 minutes.
Then just a day later, on Tuesday 7th July, it was the turn of London Tramlink to be affected when a car collided with a tram at South Norwood Country Park. The driver of the Ford Focus car was taken to hospital with an injured back and two other injuries were reported on board the tram itself. Trams were suspended between Harrington Road and Arena from approximately 1545 until 1900 whilst the emergency services dealt with the incident and the scene was cleared. During this time services from Beckenham Junction were terminating at Harrington Road with local buses accepting Tramlink tickets.
Meanwhile the Rail Accident Investigation Branch have confirmed that they are conducting a full investigation into an incident on Manchester Metrolink which saw a pedestrian hit by a tram in Piccadilly Gardens causing serious injuries on 12th May. The man had just alighted from the tram when he was struck by the same tram when crossing the tracks in Piccadilly Gardens as the tram made its way between the Market Street and Piccadilly Gardens stops. The investigation – which judging by other RAIB investigations will take around a year to complete – will look at the actions of the pedestrian and the tram driver, the marking and layout of the tracks in the Market Street area and RATP Metrolink’s response to, and investigation of, the incident (the RAIB only realised the seriousness when they asked to see the CCTV footage from the tram).
Re Edinburgh Tram incident; sorry to contradict but Lochside Crescent is closer to Edinburgh Park Central tram stop than Edinburgh Park station. Have to await outcome of enquiry but almost certain incident attributable to pedestrian carelessness.
The Metrolink incident, unfortunate as it was for the person involved, is not really a surprise in that location. Pedestrians randomly walk into the path of trams all the time in that area.