Network Rail fined £3.75m following Margam track worker deaths

The incident involved Michael Lewis, Gareth Delbridge and a third track worker, employees of Network Rail, who were working on the track at Margam, Wales on 3 July 2019. A passenger train travelling from Swansea to Paddington struck Mr. Lewis and Mr. Delbridge, who suffered fatal injuries. The train narrowly missed the other worker. The trio were carrying out track maintenance work without site or distant lookout protection to warn them of approaching trains, or a line block which would have prevented trains from travelling on the section of the track they were working on.

ORR’s investigation of the incident found systematic and wide-ranging safety failures by Network Rail in its measures to protect those working on or near the line from trains, resulting from inadequacies in its processes and management systems.  These were similar to the findings of ORR inspections in 2018 and 2019, and from other previous incidents, which led the safety regulator to take formal enforcement action to require Network Rail to improve track worker safety.

Since the accident at Margam there has been a step change in the way that GB’s rail industry manages track worker safety, with Network Rail almost entirely ending red-zone working, when lines remain live during track work, and employing new technologies to reduce the risk of harm. However, further incidents that resulted in track worker fatalities near Roade in 2020 and Surbiton in 2021 and reports of near misses means Network Rail must remain committed in its focus on track worker safety.