The Rail Accident Investigation Branch was formed to help improve railway safety.
It is tasked with investigating accidents and incidents on the railways, without apportioning blame, and publishing the results so that lessons can be learnt and safety improved.
On the 22nd of January 2008 a young man lost his life on the foot crossing at West Lodge, Haltwhistle.
Today, almost exactly a year after this tragic event, RAIB finally published its report.
Why has it taken so long?
UPDATE: J M Gold writes...
A serious point, and there may be a serious answer.
RAIB are frequently advertising for accident investigators.
The pay looks more than reasonable, but they seem to have to offer lengthy training, which suggests that experienced railway people aren't coming forward.
No less worrying is the content of the report.
Network Rail's procedures call for regular review of level crossing safety. The two most recent reviews identified clear shortcomings at this crossing, but no appropriate action was taken.
I think this is a real problem with modern management methods, which respond to problems by creating procedures. This generates a constant stream of reports which are passed into the "system".
Much time is spent filling in paper (or perhaps nowadays a computer database) to provide a record that the procedure has been followed, but all too often nothing is actually DONE.
