The number of railway staff injured by assaults rose by 53 per cent last year, according to the Rail Safety and Standards Board.

The RSSB’s Annual Health and Safety Report also mentions the death of 61-year old gateline worker Jorge Ortega, who received fatal head injuries when he was attacked at Ilford station on 4 December last year. He died in hospital two days later.

A 28-year old Ilford man was charged with murder and is set to go on trial later this month.

The RSSB report says: ‘The rail industry is taking positive action to reduce and prevent attacks in stations and trains through training, body worn cameras and even body armour. However, for things to really improve, there needs to be a wholesale change in public behaviour.’

It also warns that trespassing continues to be a major problem, and that most of the 29 people who lost their lives on the railway last year had been trespassing, although one died after the collision at Talerddig on the Cambrian Line, while the rate of suicides on the railway has ‘unfortunately mirrored the national increase’. The industry is ‘collaborating and working with other sectors to address this issue’.

The RSSB’s director of system safety and health Chris Knowles said: ‘Our Operational Risk and Safety Conference underlined the rail industry’s proactive approach to challenges such as trespass, worker assaults, extreme weather, financial constraints, and societal changes.

‘Our latest Annual Health and Safety Report shows Britain’s railway is still a safe mode of transport, in no small part due to the focus and vigilance of the whole industry. But we can do more. It remains essential to collaborate, to share safety and performance data and to apply the learning and hard-won lessons from incidents.’

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