Baby suffers injury after pram rolled into side of moving train at Banbury station
An accident investigation report has been issued
It's been revealed a two month old baby suffered head injuries after a pram rolled into the side of a moving train at Banbury station.
A Rail Accident Investigation Branch report in to the incident in June says the collision caused the pram to tip over when the child's parent momentarily released their hold on it.
It caused the infant to fall out, on to the platform, suffering minor head injury.
The report draws attention to a slope on the platform:
"RAIB has been unable to determine why the infant’s parent momentarily let go of the unbraked pram. The small degree of slope present is unlikely to have been apparent to the infant’s parent, who possibly became momentarily distracted while unaware of the hazard created by the slope."
Also detailed in the report:
"Network Rail reported that there was no ‘reasonable opportunity’ to remedy the slopes at Banbury station between the 2015 assessment and the time of the accident. The normal practice for maintaining platforms involves preventative maintenance and repairing damaged areas as required. This would mean that resurfacing more than 75 percent of a platform would rarely take place, and therefore it would potentially be a very long time before maintenance requirements alone prompted the remediation of platform slopes.
"While it is considered good practice to look for opportunities to make safety improvements when undertaking changes, the railway must also systematically assess measures to increase safety based on their own cost- effectiveness."
Following the accident, Chiltern Railways installed signs in the customer lifts at Banbury station in addition to reviewing the signs on the platform surface.