Rail safer than roads

RSSB report concludes that rail travel remains safer than other modes, even during the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic.

TRAIN travel remains safer than other modes, despite concerns about the risk of catching COVID19 while travelling.

That’s the conclusion of the RSSB’s COVID-19 Transmission Rates on Rail report, published on August 17.

The report concludes there is a 1-in-11,000 risk of being infected on an hour-long train journey with no social distancing or face coverings - and that risk more than halves if passengers wear masks.

RSSB (formerly the Rail Safety and Standards Board) calculates that travelling by car is 25 times more dangerous than rail, cycling 403 times, walking 456 times, and by motorcycle 1,620 times less safe.

It adds that when the effect of the Coronavirus is taken into account and compared against the average road safety risk, the risks are almost the same, and that across all transport modes the “risks of catching the virus are very low, and certainly tolerable”.

The findings have been verified by the chief scientific advisor at the Department for Transport, in collaboration with the

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

To analyse the risk, RSSB’s model took a typical passenger journey focusing on the time spent waiting on platforms, boarding and alighting, and the time spent on

the train itself.

Researchers then worked with crowd simulation software by Crowd Dynamics and combined data from LNER and infection risk data from the Office of National Statistics, to obtain informed estimates of the risk.

“While some of the risks identified are obviously higher than if there were no virus at all, RSSB believes they are small enough for people to be able to use trains for both work and leisure with no major concerns, provided passengers adhere to government instructions on the use of face coverings,” the report noted.

RSSB Director of System Safety and Health Ali Chegni said: “As more people return to schools and offices over the next few weeks, people rightly want to feel confident travelling by train.

“Our analysis suggests going by road won’t offer increased level of overall safety, so the virus shouldn’t influence whether or not people choose to travel by train.

“In a world with no virus, the risk would be even lower, but our data shows that even with the virus still present in the community, the risk is low enough and tolerable.

“People who rely on trains for their livelihoods, education and leisure can travel safely, following guidance from the train operators, and wearing a face covering unless exempt.”

However, RSSB acknowledges that the evaluation could change as new information becomes available or if the overall risk of infection across the country were to change. @AndyRoden1

■ Winnng back the passengers - see pages 40-43.

■ Wolmar, pages 48-49.