Request ID: FOI-0388-2425 Date published: 31 May 2024
You asked
Please can you provide me with an yearly breakdown of:
- How many incidents of people falling between the train and the platform have occurred since 2014?
- How many incidents left to life changing injuries?
- How many injuries resulted in deaths?
- How many passenger interface incidents has TfLrecorded since 2014?
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-0388-2425
Thank you for your request received on 2 May 2024 asking for information about passenger accidents on the London Underground network.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require.
Nearly four million journeys are undertaken on the London Underground every weekday, and almost a billion journeys a year. The safety of our staff and customers is our top priority and the Tube is recognised as one of the safest metros around the world. Despite this, we are never complacent, and continuously strive to reduce injuries and ensure our customers travel safely across the network.
We have done a lot to understand the key locations, issues and contributory factors which lead to customer accidents, particularly as customers board and alight our trains. To reduce numbers of safety incidents, we focus on both influencing customer behaviour and changing our infrastructure where possible to reduce the risk including the following measures: • We are improving cameras on our stations which will give the train operator an even clearer view of the platform on almost one hundred Tube platforms to further improve safety for our customers. • We have moved nosing stones on a number of our platforms where the gap between the train and the platform is widest, which has reduced the gap and allows our customers to board and alight more safely. • We have platform edge doors on the Jubilee line extension which reduces the risk of customer accidents. • We provided detailed training to our station staff and train operators on clear safety rules, increasing passenger safety. • We have a structured safety communication plan for communicating potential risks to our customers, including announcements on the train, on the platform, in addition to visual communications such as posters within our stations. • The yellow lines on our platforms, and the ‘Mind the Gap’ signs, are also used to highlight the potential risk to our customers. There are also regular announcements on our stations to remind our customers to stand behind the yellow line. • We undertake talks in schools to educate children on the danger of the gap between the train and platform.
We continually monitor the effectiveness of our measures and campaigns in reducing accidents and adjust our approach accordingly.
The table below provides the number of total passenger train interface (PTI) incidents, total number of incidents of falls between platform and train, number of serious injuries resulting from falls between platform and train, and number of fatalities resulting from falls between platform and train, for the years 2014-2024 (as of 10 May 2024) for London Underground.
Please note the following caveats:
• We have no way of defining which injuries were 'life-changing' from the data available but we have provided numbers of serious injuries, using our serious injury definition which: o from April 2020 is based on the RIDDOR definition of a specified major injury o before April 2020 was based on whether the injured person was taken to hospital • For the numbers from the live reporting system (Dec 2016 onwards), when a fall takes place between the platform and train a PTI incident is reported. If there is no injury to record, the details about the person involved are not captured. This means that for the “no injury” incidents recorded, this may include colleague incidents as well as customers. • For the numbers from the live reporting system (Dec 2016 onwards), a PTI incident has been defined as any incident that occurs at the platform/train interface or the platform edge doors or is flagged as a platform/train interface incident on our reporting system.
Year
Total number of Platform Train Interface (PTI) incidents
Total number of falls between platform and train
Number of serious injuries from falls between platform and train
Number of fatalities from falls between platform and train
2014
1441
305
5
0
2015
1443
308
1
1
2016
1484
317
3
0
2017
1512
272
32
0
2018
1825
320
30
0
2019
1890
328
34
0
2020
1345
143
11
1
2021
1505
154
2
0
2022
1708
198
3
0
2023
1941
261
2
0
2024
565
59
0
0
If this is not the information you are looking for please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob Senior FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
