A crossing point where an 11-year-old boy was left with serious injuries after being hit by a tram was potentially hazardous and should be made safer, a report has found.

The boy, who had been riding a bike, was involved in a collision with a Metrolink tram at a pedestrian crossing in Audenshaw in September last year.

He suffered a serious head injury and was taken to hospital by air ambulance after police, paramedics and fire crews were called to the scene. Two weeks after the incident he remained in a ‘life threatening condition’.

A report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), released today (Thursday), has made a series of recommendations for Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), Tameside council and Keolis Amey – which operates Metrolink – following the incident.

This includes the ask that TfGM and Tameside Council improve safety at the crossing and undertake a new risk assessment of its layout.

The RAIB report found that risk assessments carried out by the Metrolink system operator were ‘incomplete, unavailable or had not been reviewed following earlier accidents or on a periodic basis’.

And the tram involved in the accident was found to have three defective sanders – which help braking on rails – and an inoperative on-board CCTV system.

If the sanders had been working properly the tram could have collided with the boy at a speed around 1.5mph slower.

The report states the young cyclist had been waiting at the pedestrian refuge – an island in the road – at the junction of Droylsden Road and Kershaw Lane at around 7.25pm.

On the evening of the collision, the boy was seen by the tram driver who did not think they were moving towards the tram. However he then moved into the path of the approaching tram, which was travelling at around 21 miles per hour.

The driver applied hazard brakes, and sounded the ‘street whistle’ but the tram collided with the boy at an estimated speed of 17.3mph.

The boy was knocked off his bike and fell partly under the left hand side of the tram. He was then taken to hospital.

The RAIB report finds that the accident occurred partly because the attention of the boy had been ‘probably focused’ on the eastbound traffic, so he ‘may have been unaware of the tram’s approach from the opposite direction’.

Its report also states that the 11-year-old had not waited for the ‘green walking man’ at the Puffin crossing indicating it was safe to cross.

The Puffin crossing point is ‘unusual’ in its location, the report states, with trams travelling in either direction on one side of the crossing, with cars and other vehicles on the other heading eastbound towards Manchester, and sharing the Metrolink tram lane heading westwards.

“Although a considerable amount of hazard identification and risk assessment work was carried out during the design phase for the East Manchester Line, this work did not identify the hazard which the unusual layout of the Kershaw Lane crossing presented to pedestrians,” the RAIB report states.

It adds that a road safety review carried out in February 2012 was the first ‘documented’ recognition of the hazard. “However, by this stage, construction was advanced, and the design could not be easily amended,” it adds.

A 2013 report by the body that designed the East Manchester Line, M-Pact Thales, found that the layout and position of the crossing point could result in ‘user confusion, which increases the risk of collisions with passing vehicles/trams’. It recommended ‘look both ways’ markings be installed at crossing points.

“The risk assessment processes used during the tramway design and construction phases did not identify the hazard to pedestrians created by the crossing layout until the tramway construction was advanced to a point where the design could not be easily changed,” RAIB concludes.

However the watchdog found no evidence of fatigue or any distractions affecting the driver’s behaviour during the accident.

The report has made five recommendations, including that TfGM and Tameside council should review the layout of the crossing in light of the accident.

It also is calling on the transport authority to review its safety management system to ensure it can identify hazards and control risks at the design stage of tramway projects.

And it wants TfGM and Keolis Amey to review the ‘reliability, operation and maintenance of the sanding systems and CCTV systems on M5000 trams’.

TfGM’s Head of Metrolink, Danny Vaughan, said: “This was a deeply upsetting incident that will have lasting consequences for the young boy involved and our thoughts remain very much with him and his family.

“Whilst light rail is a very safe mode of transport, when things do go wrong it is vitally important lessons are learnt from them. That is why we welcome the very thorough and detailed investigation carried out by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch.

“The road junction in question has been in use since 2013 and was one of dozens of busy junctions developed as part of the very successful expansion of Metrolink that has seen us treble in size to become the UK’s largest tram network.

“With large sections of on-street running, ensuring the safety of tram passengers and all other road users has been, and will continue to be, our priority.

“Since this incident we have undertaken a detailed review of the junction with Tameside council and the Metrolink operator.

“We have assessed the layout of the junction against others and while we are confident it remains the safest design option, we will be asking an independent expert to examine the site to see whether any improvements can be made, in line with the RAIB recommendation.

“We will continue to work with the operator and other partners to review all other recommendations within the report, so that we can continue to maintain high standards of safety across the network.”

A Tameside council spokesperson said: “From the outset, we wish to make it clear that our main concern is for the 11-year old boy who was seriously hurt and our best wishes and thoughts go out to him and his family.

“We will do all we can to prevent a re-occurrence of this terrible event, and to that end Tameside council fully supports and accepts the RAIB report and its findings.

“In line with its recommendations, we commit to working in partnership with Transport for Greater Manchester on a full and independently reviewed assessment of the crossing and its lay-out to identify any measures we can implement to reduce risk.”

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