Posted By Philip Roberts Having read the Ministerial Statement from Alistair Darling I am a bit uncertain as to how the proposals will impact on the safety of the Railways. One of the proposals is to remove the responsibility for Railway Safety from the HSE and pass it to the Office of the Rail Regulator (ORR), the same office is also responsible for looking after INVESTORS interests. In my experience looking after investors interests usually involves controlling costs. Will controlling costs impact on money spent on rail safety? What do others think?? Phil Roberts

Posted By Sean Fraser The TUC is particularly dismayed at this as they saw it coming. I wrote to my MP on the subject who forwarded the letter and received the usual bland dismissal about HMG ensuring safety would always be the highest consideration - then go ahead anyway. The effect? Well, we have to weigh up the costs. Travelling by rail is significantly safer than by vehicle. This has prompted many in charge to question if transfer of the safety element to those who pull the purse strings would not be more effective, as there is a feeling that "higher" standards would not be cost justified. The transfer is to intended to seek to balance cost against benefit. The assumption is that those who are control the finances can make a better assessment of where that balance lies, rather than being 'at the mercy' of independent bodies that are forcing them to implement higher standards (and hence costs) for little additional benefit. It's a persuasive argument, but consider this - the UK had two options to instal systems that would reduce or even prevent SPADs - Signals Passed At Danger. One was expensive, but it was the one that is almost universally adopted in continental Europe. This would more or less prevent SPADs from ever happening. The other was significantly cheaper, and it was not effective at preventing all SPADs. Guess which one was chosen . . . Even when there was a good case for a safer system that would, over time, pay for itself, we chose to go the cheaper route. How much easier it will be for the ORR to not bother establishing a safe system at all until pushed into it! And where does the HSE stand now regarding the stations? Where does their repsonsibility end? At the shop door? So many meters from a platform edge? Total confusion and abrogation of responsibility guaranteed!