Safety first for rail passengers
As wheelchair users travelling by rail face a greater risk of death and serious injuries than other passengers, an EU funded project is researching the re-design of train carriages for their safety. The Safe Interiors project, funded under the EU's Sixth Framework Programme for research (FP6), aims to find out how best to protect disabled passengers during an accident by providing improved safety systems for wheelchair users. The team of researchers will use a trolley test rig and humanoid dummies to study the behaviour of a wheelchair and its occupant at various crash speeds. It will then produce designs for optimised safe accommodation on board a train, including a choice of carriage layouts. The project will also assess some of the existing railway vehicle layout and ergonomics requirements for the wheelchair and its occupant. 'Wheelchairs are tremendously vulnerable in an accident as they are not constrained,' says the leader of the project Professor Clive Chirwa from the Bolton Automotive and Aerospace Research Group at the University of Bolton, UK. 'During the Paddington train crash, wheelchairs were thrown around as the coaches piled on top of one another. Passengers were thrown from the train, and the wheelchair passengers became like missiles, as they were not fixed in place,' he continued. According to safety experts, without restraint systems like seat belts, people have little chance of surviving an accident as speed combined with the interior furnishings of a carriage and loose luggage can prove fatal on impact. 'We will look at the scientific, engineering and design constraints,' said Prof Chirwa. 'Another project will investigate the safety of other travellers - but protecting wheelchair passengers is the most difficult.' The research project will have three years to model the new interior designs and safety systems for the disabled. It will then present its suggestions to the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC) - the EU body set up to foster innovation and competitiveness on European railways - whose Strategic Rail Research Agenda 2020 aims to cut rail fatalities by 80%. The Safe Interiors project was established to follow on from previous projects Traincol, Safetrain and Safetram, which also analysed safety on the European railways.