The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-01 00:00:00

ACCIDENTS ON RAILROADS.

The following is the report of the select commit-
tee
appointed to inquire into the causes of acci;
dents on railways, and into the possibility of
removing any such causes by further legislation:—
" That your committee has heard much evidence
upon the subject matter of inquiry brought before
it ; that the evidence has been chiefly given by offi-
cers of the Board of Trade, by eminent engineers,
and by directors and otheri officials of railway
companies ; that it appears to your committee
from that evidence, that the causes of accidents
on railways may be classified under the three
following heads :—lnattention of servants, de-
fective material (either in the works or rolling
stock), excessive speed ; that it appears to your
committee that the strict personal supervision
which alone can check the carelessness of the men
employed on the lines, and detect the insufficiency
of the material used on them, can best be obtained
by the attention of the companies themselves, and
that the very serious losses they incur by any acci-
dent ought to render it sufficiently their interest
to pay minute attention to these points ; but cases
having occurred when these questions have been
neglected by railway companies, your committee
is of opinion that the Board of Trade should be in-
' vested with the fullest powers to investigate and
report to Parliament upon any accidents which may
occur on railways; that your committee is of
opinion that a rate of speed considerably in excess
of what is considered safe, in the opinionof the great
majority of the witnesses examined, is sometimes
attained on many of the lines ; that the evi-
dence taken further tends to show that such ex-
cesAve speed ha,s arisen, not so much from the
speed required as advertised by the railway time-
tables, as from the want of strict punctuality in
the time of the departure and arrival of trains from
e tch station, which leads to an excess of speed fur
the purpose of endeavouring to make up time
IoA. That your committee, impressed with the
many difficulties and complications connected with
this part of the subject, and also with the inex-
pediency of relieving railway companies from the
responsibility which now devolves on them,
is not prepared to recommend any direct legisla-
tive interference by the house upon the question of
the extreme speed at which railway trains may be
permitted to travel. But your committee is of
opinion that the perfect regularity in the time of
the departure from and arrival at each station by
the trains, which would appear to be a material
element of safety in railway travelling, may be
attained by legislative interferenc-, to the ex-
tent of enacting that, except under exceptional
circumstances, the public should have some
means of obtaining prompt and cheap re-
dress in the recovery of penalties in every
case of want of punctuality in the departure and
arrival of trains at every station, thereby rendering
it imperative upon railway companies not to adver-
tise a rate of travelling which they cannot always
maintain with undeviating punctuality ; that your
committee is of opinion that it should be made
imperative on railway companies to advertise a
sufficient time beforehand the exact hour of de-
parture and arrival of trains at each station ; that
your =mails-tee is also of opinion that it should
be imperative on every railway company to esta-
blish a means of communication between guards
and engine-drivers ; that your committee has
received much evidence with reference to the
advisability of enforcing a system of telegraphic
communication, and the utility of enacting
that trains should not be despatched without
having ascertained by such communication that
the line was c'ear ; that youT committee is not
prepared to define the distance at which such tele-
graphic stations should be placed, but it is of
opinion that a recourse to this system would
be a most effective means for the prevention
of railway accidents, the largest proportion
of which arise from collisions ; that, with
respect to clay and night signals, breaks, and
other precautions. your committee is of opinion,
from the evidence which it has heard, that such
details are better left to the management of the
railway boards ; that your committee is therefore
of opinion that it is incumbent on the Board
of Trade to apply to Parliament for such further
powers as may enable that department to -carry out
the above recommendations, which, in the opinion
of your committee, would tend greatly to diminish
the number of ralway accidents." The report is
dated June 25.