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Assessment of three-point passenger restraints (seatbelts) fitted to seats on rail vehicles

Document Summary

The report by RSSB examining the issue of passenger restraint on trains in the wake of the Ufton Nervet accident in 2004.

This document was published in July 2007 by Railway Safety & Standards Board.

It was written by Railway Safety & Standards Board.

This item is linked to the Accident at Ufton Nervet on 6th November 2004

The original document format was PDF File, and comprised 36 pages.

This document was kindly sourced from Railway Safety & Standards Board and is in our Safety reports collection. It was added to the Archive on 9th October 2007.

Copyright Information

This document is © Railway Safety & Standards Board.

"This report details the work carried out under project T201, Three Point Seatbelt Assessment. It is part of a wider scope of work concerned with improving passenger safety including the prevention of ejections. This report follows on from the assessment of Two Point Seatbelts and the possible fitment of such devices to passenger carrying rail vehicles.

In conducting the research into the possible fitment of "Lap and Diagonal" (colloquially known as 3 point seatbelts) passenger restraint devices to seats in rail vehicles, an existing rail seat was used as a donor seat. This was extensively modified to accept the anchorages and fixtures required. It was found that the seat structure required additional stiffening to accommodate the increased load case of restraining an occupant, whilst also resisting impact from an unrestrained passenger from the rear.

It was found that injury outcomes for passengers choosing to wear restraints were substantially improved. However, there was a slight general worsening of injury outcomes for passengers choosing not to wear restraints as they impacted the modified (stiffened) seat. There was a significant problem when considering unrestrained 5th percentile female passengers (those of small female and adolescent stature) choosing not to wear restraints when impacting the modified seat. Neck injury (Nij) in this group significantly increased to a level outside acceptable limits. It may be possible to reduce this feature if a new seat were designed which took account of this problem, however the difficulties and implications that this represents should not be underestimated.

In an earlier phase of this work, 6 recent significant accidents had been analysed in which it was established that there is a possible negative consequence to the fitment of any passenger restraint device. That is, in those accidents there had been areas of significant vehicle structural intrusion into the passenger compartment, to an extent where passengers� survivability would have been compromised, if they had been restrained in their seat by seatbelts. In the accidents investigated, the unrestrained passengers in these areas were thrown clear of this structural intrusion. Although this phenomenon is not fully understood, its importance and significance should be recognised. This report takes this phenomenon into account in establishing if there is a net benefit to passenger safety to be gained by fitting lap and diagonal restraints to seats on rail vehicles. At this time no net safety benefit can be identified."