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Warnings are being put up at railway stations after a pushchair carrying a baby rolled off a platform and onto a live track.

The heartstopping moment, at Whyteleafe station on September 18 in 2013, caught on CCTV, has been investigated by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB).

The images show the pushchair rolling away while the mother, who had not applied the brakes because she thought the platform was level, was buying a ticket from a machine.

In its report, the RAIB said: "The RAIB’s investigation found that the individuals in charge of the wheelchair and pushchair had not applied the brakes and had not noticed that the platform sloped towards the track. There was nothing to alert users of either station to the presence of the slope.

"The railway industry had generally recorded previous incidents of a similar nature as due solely to errors by the individuals concerned. As a consequence, the industry had not recognised the part that sloping platforms had played in the incidents."

In the dramatic incident, the woman did not realise the pushchair was rolling until alerted by the toddler who was with her.

She failed to reach it before it fell onto the track, narrowly missing the electric rail, and giving the baby minor cuts and bruising.

The report went on to say the platform had a one in 40 slope towards the railway, a remnant from its construction in 1900.

"The Wellingborough accident report recommended that platforms should be level, or slope away from the track," added the RAIB. "However, the government requirements for new railway construction were not modified accordingly, and the recommendation seems to have been forgotten."

The RAIB has suggested the slope could have been increased by work in 2010 and 2011, and found that the brakes had not been applied because the mother did not realise there was a slope and there was nothing to inform her that there was.

The new Southern poster about pushchairs
The new Southern poster about pushchairs

Southern has now introduced posters advising passengers to apply pushchair brakes and started to identify stations with platforms sloping towards the track.



Meanwhile Network Rail is looking at stations with sloping platforms and adding warnings or relocation station furniture but is also encouraging passengers to apply the brakes on platforms.

"Network Rail is now building a database of stations with platform slopes and will use this to identify the highest risk locations and actions that we can take to reduce the risk," said a spokesman.

"Network Rail and train operators are committed to improving safety across the network and between us we are focussing on how we can tackle the issue of platform slopes and provide better warnings to passengers.

"Whyteleafe station was built in 1900 and the safety standards we have today did not exist then. As a result, the platform was built with a slope towards the track, probably to help water drain away."