Trains cancelled over fake bridge collapse image

> Network Rail said the railway line was fully reopened at around 02:00 GMT and it has urged people to "think about the serious impact it could have" before creating or sharing hoax images.

Perhaps Network Rail should have a system of asserting rail integrity that is independent of social media (?!!?)

for real, pick up the phone and ask someone (??)

> or real, pick up the phone and ask someone

I mean, they did do that eventually. But if the image was convincing, then stopping the train immediately is the rational choice. Erring on the side of a small delay rather than a train disaster is the right thing to do in this situation.

If I were on a train and there was even a chance that we were careering towards a collapsed bridge... I would appreciate that train stopping before we find out.

1 - it's the middle of the night. It takes a while longer to find someone to go and look at the bridge.

2 - integrity checks can tell you that the bridge has definitely failed, but not that it definitely hasn't.

I’m not sure what you wanted them to do, that they didn’t do.

I'm perfectly happy for Network Rail to prioritise customer safety. They get an unsubstantiated report from social media, so they stop services over the affected area until they can get someone to go and check. Picking up the phone wouldn't be much use as there's not teams of safety inspectors just waiting by rail bridges.

To my mind, Network Rail is blameless for this.

Right, they probably have an employee on site 24/7 for every piece of track they use. It’s a mystery why they didn’t think of calling them.

"Hello main office, I have seen a rumor on Instagram that a bridge has collapsed. Should I stop all traffic through this region due to this shitpost?"

"Hi please don't - we've had three different trains go through there already. There is no loss of signaling in the area, electrical and infrastructural connections are responding appropriately. We will be sure to contact other drivers and let them know about this"

Your method involves the loss of at least one train before action is taken.