Two-month old baby suffers head injury after train strikes pram

A pram, carrying a 2-month-old infant, rolled towards the platform edge and came into contact with the train’s bodyside - (Chiltern Railways)

A two-month-old baby suffered a head injury after their pram rolled into a moving train, an accident report has revealed.

The pushchair struck the body of the train moving at 35mph as it pulled into Banbury Station in Oxfordshire in June.

An accident report found the distracted mother, intending to board the train, had been juggling with luggage and briefly let go of the pram which rolled into the oncoming train’s side.

The baby suffered a minor head injury after spilling out of the buggy and onto the platform floor.

CCTV footage showing the locations of the signs on platform 2 (yellow ellipses) near where the accident occurred. The red dashed ellipse shows the approximate position of the pram 15 seconds before the accident. (Chiltern Railways)

The terrifying accident featured in Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) released on Thursday.

An analysis of CCTV footage of the incident read: “The infant’s parent leant away from the pram to place one hand on their wheeled luggage and turned to face their relative, momentarily letting go of the pram.

“Around 6 seconds before the accident, with the parent still facing away from the pram, it began to move towards the platform edge.

“Around 3 seconds before the accident, the front of the train passed the position where the pram was located, and the pram continued to roll towards the platform edge.

“Around 1 second before the accident, the relative tried to intervene but the pram contacted the train’s bodyside.”

The report added: “RAIB has been unable to determine why the infant’s parent momentarily let go of the unbraked pram.

A poster has been installed at Banbury station lifts (Chiltern Railways)

“The small degree of slope present is unlikely to have been apparent to the infant’s parent, who possibly became momentarily distracted while unaware of the hazard created by the slope.”

Investigators did not believe that the turbulence created by the “slow moving and smooth-sided train” coming into the platform caused the pram to start to roll towards the edge of the platform.

They added a station announcement was made at 12.15pm when the parent was standing on the platform, stating: “Passengers are reminded to keep hold of all personal belongings at all times and ensure that prams, buggies and wheelchairs have their brakes applied while stationary on station platforms as fast trains could cause wind turbulence when passing through”.

Since the accident, Chiltern Railways have improved warning signs on the aerodynamic risk from passing trains to passengers.