Rotten railway sleepers "an accident waiting to happen".
03 September 2013
Railway sleepers have dangerously rotted away, it is claimed, on the railway line that takes families to the top UK theme park Chessington World of Adventures.
Maintenance workers are shocked at the defects that go unrepaired. One worker said "I'd never let any of my family travel on the railway line and a lot of the other workers feel the same. It's only a matter of time before there is a major accident or derailment. Tens of wooden railway sleepers have rotted away without being replaced and are hidden by shingle and gravel from the railway track bed. It's all down to saving money. Trains come thundering along these tracks day after day. It's a ticking time bomb. Bosses have been alerted but nothing has been done - and all to save money."
At the other end of the Tolworth platform he pointed out a sleeper so badly rotted that it had broken in two. There were dozens more dodgy sleepers a quarter of a mile from MALDEN MANOR, one stop from Tolworth. The worker could fit his whole hand into cracks in the wood and one rotten section of sleeper had come completely away from the track.
Responsibility for the track has now been handed over to Network Rail, as it takes over from private companies such as Balfour Beatty, due to concerns over poor maintenance