Passengers risk safety by crossing track

Grant Sherlock

A TRAIN company today urged passengers to consider safety at all times after commuters crossed the track at a Suffolk station when a staff member failed to turn up for work.

Passengers arrived at Bury St Edmunds station early this morning to find the doors locked, despite trains arriving to pick up passengers.

The first passengers who arrived at the station tried to call a National Express helpline using a phone outside the station, only to find no one answering the call.

One passenger said that soon after another passenger tried the helpline and was advised to use a side entrance to the station.

It is believed some passengers used the side entrance, with a number who had arrived for the 5.49am train to Cambridge walking off the end of the platform and across the tracks to board a train already in the station.

One passenger who arrived at the station to catch the 5.36am train to Ipswich and found the doors locked said: “A while after I got there three other people turned up to catch the 5.49am train to Cambridge and one of them tried the phone and was told there was a side entrance to the station.

“Unbelievably they then had to walk across the tracks to get to the train. There were businessmen carrying briefcases walking across the tracks.

“They got on the train and it pulled away.

“I got on the 6.22am train for Ipswich and at that stage people began appearing in the station, suggesting the doors had just been opened.”

Rail operator National Express today apologised for the station being locked but urged passengers not to cross the tracks under any circumstances.

A spokesman for the company said: “I can confirm that the station wasn't open. I understand that the member of staff was late for work.

“We hold our hands up and apologise the station wasn't open.

“There may have been some incidences of people walking across the track, which we take very seriously. We highlight it time and again that it is very serious.”