Passenger praises rail staff on-board train that hit and killed man

A passenger on the train that hit and killed a man in Harrogate last week has praised the 'fantastic staff' at Northern Rail for their work on the night.
Staff at Northern Rail have been praised for their work to reassure passengers on board a Harrogate train that hit and killed a man last week.Staff at Northern Rail have been praised for their work to reassure passengers on board a Harrogate train that hit and killed a man last week.
Staff at Northern Rail have been praised for their work to reassure passengers on board a Harrogate train that hit and killed a man last week.

A man was pronounced dead at the scene on Wednesday, October 18, after he was hit by a train on the railway line between Harrogate and Starbeck.But now a passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, has praised the staff on board the train, which was stopped on the track for 'two hours' while Emergency Services staff attended the incident.

He said: "The train staff were simply fantastic, they really were. Northern Rail gets a tremendous kicking from lots of people about the quality of their trains and timekeeping but last night the conductor on that train was amazing.

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"The guard offered his own mobile phone down the carriage for anybody who wanted to make a call and he had a bottle of his own water that he offered around.

"There was a baby on the train with its mother and he made sure they were both okay. They really were great and when we got into the station he just said "right, taxis, who is going where". They made sure everyone who was travelling on had a way of getting home."

The anonymous passenger also passed his thoughts and condolences to the driver of the train who he said was visibly 'traumatised' by what had happened.

He said: "The driver came through to the lobby in Harrogate station and he was absolutely traumatised. It really affected him badly.

"I was fine until I saw the driver, he was completely broken."