Following a recent Freedom of Information request it has been revealed that there have been 1,352 “safety related incidents” reported on Isle of Man Railway’s since October 2011. These figures include occurrences on the Manx Electric Railway, Snaefell Mountain Railway as well as the Isle of Man Steam Railway and range from incidents with road traffic through to the more major and high profile incidents.
The figures, as reported on the Isle of Man Today website, show that there have been:
148 road traffic/crossing related incidents on the Manx Electric Railway and 64 on the Snaefell Mountain Railway
16 derailments on the MER and eight on the SMR
236 overhead line issues on the MER and 18 on the SMR
14 members of the public were injured on the MER with 8 on the SMR
50 staff have suffered injuries on the MER and 9 on the SMR
Responding to these figures Ian Longworth, Director of Public Transport, said: “The department has a reporting system for the railways so we get a record of incidents and near misses. This is intended to highlight where we need to consider items such as operating procedures needing a review before there is a larger problem. An example is level crossing renewals where we note failures in order to have priorities for investment for renewals. Many of these were unreliable and we have renewed two or three a year which has almost totally removed this issue from the list. It is an entirely normal way to operate a railway and the bare statistics can paint a misleading picture if taken out of context.”