Thursday 24 September 2009

Earlsfield fatality

Had a short journey to and from London today. A woman had been hit by a train at Earlsfield station and this has caused huge delays and cancellation of trains around most of the imp stations in London. Luckily I managed to get a train to So'ton but I had to go to Woking from Clapham Junction to get that train.

The delays for what from 20 mins had become hours and the train stations (especially CLJ) were very overcrowded and the passengers' faces in total upset. The fact that there were little information on the revised times of the trains and incorrect information being relayed were enough to make people worried. But I guess, there is hardly a way to overcome this incident without all these inconveniences and confusions. Even those platform staff couldn't be much clear about any info. I have seen people crying as well.
I wonder why this has caused such a huge impact on the rail network services after all it was only one station that had to be closed. The delays were so long and I couldn't believe my eyes that, in London, this single incident caused this much of a trouble around and the management went as bad as it could be. It is understandable! It must have been a hard day for the railway staff and it is in fact not so easy like rearranging blocks and puzzles, to get train times and trains around here and there. Maybe I am saying this because I got to where I wanted on time whereas 90% of the passengers were having a worse day. Forget it if its a Friday but this is mid-week and it is quite annoying to go through such trouble.

One thing that is still strange and so mysterious to me is that, the same incident happened at the same station on the same date (23.09.08) last year as well. You can read it here. Happened to come across this page while I was searching if there were any sort of news out about what has happened today. Same date, same place, again a man, again in the evening.... Aaaaw feels quite spooky when I think about it.
Waiting to read the newspapers tomorrow...
My sincere sympathies to her family and friends.
Good night.

PS: Wrote this second time. Of course, not as lengthy as the first one but I just wanted to blog it now though shorter, considering that I might not be able to come to blog until get free time.
Ah, I wish I was a little more multi-tasker!!!

14 comments:

Priya Joyce said...

well...wat a day it mite hav been for tos who travel thru trains for work..yeh as u said mid-week...tat muss hav been reely irritating as well as patience testing..
hmmm happens..wat can be dun...well yeh the accident cud be prevented..but ya..i guess nw all is fyn...hmmm

tc dear

Hemanth Potluri said...

oh so much problem with one guy...and yeah its freaky when u read the same incident same day same evening....guess he is not the same guy..and 2 times typing the same thing for u ..u went through a lot of trouble in a single day..and yeah have a gud night :)..

urs..hemu..

Zaki said...

Another strange thing was that someone was taken ill at Clapham Junction shortly before the Earlsfield incident. So we had a delay before arriving at CJ and then got stopped between CJ and Earslfield. Our driver went to the back of the train and took us back to CJ, where I took a train back to Waterloo. Fortunately I live in Wimbledon which is connected to the tube.

Anonymous said...

Hey I live in Earlsfield and was just googling for some news about it (Can't find anything). My housemate got delayed coming home.

It's not suprising there's a big delay - What do you expect them to do with the trains? They've got to clean the tracks up which takes a while - This guy could have been spread 1/4 mile along a track. And they can't just route them onto other tracks because there's trains already on them. Remember, everything in London runs at capacity, and so any problem and it all goes tits up.

Anonymous said...

Hey I live in Earlsfield and was just googling for some news about it (Can't find anything). My housemate got delayed coming home.

It's not suprising there's a big delay - What do you expect them to do with the trains? They've got to clean the tracks up which takes a while - This guy could have been spread 1/4 mile along a track. And they can't just route them onto other tracks because there's trains already on them. Remember, everything in London runs at capacity, and so any problem and it all goes tits up.

Anonymous said...

Hey I live in Earlsfield and was just googling for some news about it (Can't find anything). My housemate got delayed coming home.

It's not suprising there's a big delay - What do you expect them to do with the trains? They've got to clean the tracks up which takes a while - This guy could have been spread 1/4 mile along a track. And they can't just route them onto other tracks because there's trains already on them. Remember, everything in London runs at capacity, and so any problem and it all goes tits up.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I live in Earlsfield too and got stuck for two and a half hours on the tracks last night! I was absolutely fuming! Thank goodness i didnt need the bathroom before i got on the train! I know it is tragic but I think to commit suicide this way is totally selfish. I missed my best friends birthday and the lady next to me missed her grandchilds first birthday party! Not cool!

geefx said...

It was a young woman, I was there - my colleagues & I saw the whole thing.

I had just walked up the stairs onto the Northbound platform when I turned my head to look over to the Southbound platform and I saw a woman in a white top, black hair and dark trousers, must of been in her early 20's from her size and shape (didn't see her face though), she dropped down into the tracks from the platform, and just as she was standing upright the train just took her out and she was gone. It happened so fast only someone watching her would of seen why she dropped down onto the tracks. My colleague who saw it too thought he saw her pick something up.

I saw her body about 100 yards away from the platform under the train after it had stopped, from what I could see she was still in one piece, though she wasn't moving. I just can't get the image out of my head. It was horrifying.

But I still can't believe there isn't any news reports about it. Read about Martyn Greek, 36, the married man who ran in front of a train on 23rd Sept 2008 at Earlsfield. It was reported he committed suicide as he was suffering from depression and had attempted a month earlier. Whether this woman had anything to do with him we just don't know at the moment until a report comes out.

I'm still pretty numb after what I saw last night - didn't sleep much either.

Anonymous said...

beleive me Wednesday night was a bad evening for all.
I work on a station and that night i dealt with all sorts of problems.
The 2 ladys who were tramatised by what they had seen.
The gentleman who had a very young child with him.
The man who needed to get home for medication.
But the worse by far were the people who were shouting at me because they were late home, I can't beleive that people could call me names they did.
Information was thin on the ground that night, but i did my upmost to relay what info i was receiving.
So all i realy want to say is ScribbleItSmart thankyou for not having a pop at the staff.

Anonymous said...

wow, you always hear about this on the tube but usually the delays aren't that long.

sad when a person feels that they need to die to get away from something

naima xx

Saranya S said...

Thanks a lot for all your comments and I was quite surprised that I had received comments from people who saw the incident. It was like filling in the gaps of the story. thanks people.

Station staff: people who travel daily on trains should be apprehensible of how it would be like for the staff to be in such situation. Afterall we are humans. I was really amazed by the way the staff worked hard to make up the loss (in terms of delayed trains). thanks for the comment.

Anonymous said...

Hello, i'm the brother in law of the girl who committed suicide at Earlsfield Station at 7pm Wed 23rd September 2009.

I would like to apologise for all the distress caused by her actions but she had been unwell for a very long time. She was 26 and a really nice person in happier times.

Anonymous said...

I was traveling on the train that hit the girl and, while i recognise that nobody likes being delayed getting home, i couldn't believe the amount of people who had such little respect for a loss of a life. Yes, it was a disruption and i too was desperate to get home and ws seriously delayed....but i'm just thankful that i DID get to go home that night.

Have to say tho, as a young girl traveling alone, in an area ive never been to, and as its getting dark, i was really disappointed by the response i got from rail staff when asking how i could find my way home. After already being pretty shaken up by the whole event I would have really appreciated a little help. Even when approaching rail staff for assistance I received none. It was only thanks to the kindness of fellow passengers of that train who helped me get on the right buses and trains that i could eventually find my way home.

The passengers traveling on the train were all left locked on the train with no information and again, it was only thanks to passengers nearer the front of the train passing information back that we actually knew we were supposed to get off and find our own ways home. Completely let down by the "service" i paid for.


I understand people think such an act is selfish, but it's not as simple as that. Consider maybe that you're lucky because you DID get home to your friends and families that night. Sincerely sorry for your loss. Deepest sympathy x

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