Mac's Musings
Public Relations Message – Safety in Training
07/02/2008I went to Cardiff on the train earlier this week. An otherwise unexciting journey suddenly got more interesting when Arriva Trains Wales announced that there was a problem with water buffalo on the line near Ludlow.
Now water buffalo are a constant hazard to rail travel in the Far East but are, I imagine, pretty rare in rural Herefordshire. The announcement advised us that the problem would involve a good deal of disentraining, embussing, bussing debussing and rejoining.
Of course, I was only half listening. It turned out to be a 'trackside fire'. But Arriva's cautious decision, no doubt taken after careful risk assessment by a multi-agency emergency appraisal team, seemed like a wise one. The ticket inspector told me that a warehouse fire overnight had created a hazard of almost fathomless depths. The smoking edifice might fall on the line - and us - at any moment.
However, I was disappointed. I would have preferred a helter-skelter and risk-laden dash past the hazard to enliven an otherwise dull day. Then another quick announcement......we would be taking that death ride after all. Imagine our excitement! Our noses were pressed to the noise-hazard-reducing double glazing to witness the tottering, towering inferno that imperilled our lives. The train crawled cautiously past - putting us in the death zone for a dangerously long time.
The smoking shell of a single-storey brick shed slid gently by. A sigh of disappointment swept down the train like a Mexican wave.......or tsunami. But we were safe. A young girl opposite me with nose and lip jewellery said, rather sadly, that the lack of a delay would mean that she would have to go into college after all.
Bring back the water buffalo, I say.
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