Port Talbot: Train driver sounded horn before rail workers were fatally hit
Michael Lewis, 58, and Gareth Delbridge, 64, died and a third person was treated for shock but was not injured.
Friday 19 July 2019 11:50, UK
The driver of a train that hit and killed two rail workers sounded the horn when he spotted the men, accident investigators have said.
The two railway workers who died near Port Talbot in South Wales were wearing ear defenders and could not hear the train coming, police have confirmed.
Michael Lewis, 58, and Gareth Delbridge, 64, were pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. A third person was treated for shock but was not injured.
The men had been carrying out engineering work on the line in South Wales on 3 July.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has determined that the Great Western Railway train was travelling at around 73mph as it approached, but the driver spotted the track workers.
He sounded the horn and applying emergency brakes.
By the time the train was near the workers it was travelling at around 50mph.
CCTV footage from the front of the train suggest the workers did not become aware of the train until it was "very close to them", the RAIB said.
The workers had been using a tool with a petrol engine, which required at least one of them to wear ear defenders.
Last week, Network Rail launched an initiative to improve the safety of track workers.
The firm's chief executive, Andrew Haines, said: "I don't want to see another track worker death."