Sandilands – never again

Following investigations into the 2016 Sandilands tram derailment, the London Assembly Transport Committee has investigated tram and bus safety and made a series of recommendations to keep passengers and pedestrians safe.



In its report ‘Tram and Bus Safety in London: Progress and lessons learned on safety on the London transport network’ published today, the London Assembly has called for a number of practical measures to improve safety.

The report found that:

• Crucial factors, identified by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, in the Sandilands tram derailment in November 2016 were the visibility of signs and driver fatigue.[3] It is imperative that appropriate signage is in place to guide adequate safety measures on the tramways, and that an urgent and concerted effort is taken to address fatigue.
• Safety features on tram rolling stock, are largely manufacturer-led and there is no industry-led standard determining what safety measures should be included.
• There is a risk to people walking and cycling in and around the tram network and this needs to be further explored by Transport for London (TfL).

Following on from the Sandilands tram derailment, the Committee decided to investigate safety on the tram network and revisit bus safety following on from its 2017 investigation and landmark report ‘Driven to distraction, making London buses safer’. [4] The investigation found several parallels between the issues faced by bus and tram drivers. The report makes several recommendations for both bus and tram safety, with key ones including:

• TfL should ensure that the pioneering research undertaken by Loughborough University on bus driver fatigue is also carried out on other transport modes, including trams, and apply relevant lessons from the research across the wider transport network.
• TfL should ensure there are welfare facilities for bus and tram drivers, including 24/7 toilets and rest rooms and understand variance in driver working hours and shift patterns.
• TfL, tram and bus operating companies should move towards a just workplace culture and implement measures to ensure drivers feel comfortable reporting incidents, near-misses or chronic fatigue at work.
• TfL needs to increase awareness and use of its incident reporting service, the Sarah Hope Line, and take a more proactive approach to reaching out to and supporting victims of road traffic incidents.

Dr Alison Moore AM, Chair of the Transport Committee, said:

“Londoners should be safe when travelling on the city’s transport network. Nobody wants to see the loss of life and injuries seen at Sandilands ever repeated. This report outlines a clear set of recommendations, that simply can’t be left on the shelf by TfL and transport companies. The safety of Londoners on buses and trams is absolutely paramount, but those in charge need to step it up before another major incident happens again. Improvements need be made, to instil a just cultured across the network, and significant improvements need to be made to improve driver wellbeing.

“Driving a bus or tram needs intense concentration and care. Drivers are working in highly stressful conditions, handling several challenging and unpredictable factors at once. These conditions are often made worse by fatigue, which can significantly increase the risk of a serious incident occurring. When a tragedy occurs it’s not just simply the fault of the driver. Incidents and near misses should be looked at forensically, to learn from the past and to prevent tragic incidents ever occurring again.



“Victims affected by bus and tram incidents should be at the forefront of our minds. The Sarah Hope Line is a vital service for victims, but we want TfL to promote it further, to ensure that victims and their families are given the support they rightly deserve.”