THE vice-chairman of BCP Council is calling for more to be done following the latest rail tragedy at Pokesdown station.

British Transport Police received a report that a person had been struck by a train at around 8pm on Friday.

It is the first death to occur at the station since Land Sheriffs and Trespass and Welfare Officers were put in place at the station last month to provide a round-the-clock service in a bid to save lives.

Officers from British Transport Police attended along with Dorset Police.

British Transport Police said the incident is being treated as non-suspicious.

A spokesperson said: “Medics from the ambulance service also attended but the person was pronounced deceased at the scene.”

Officers are working to establish the identity of the person and inform their next of kin. A file is being prepared for the coroner.

The train involved was a Bournemouth to Birmingham Cross Country service.

All lines between Poole and Southampton Central were blocked following the incident until 9.30pm with disruption until the end of service.

Posting on Facebook on Friday night, Boscombe East and Pokesdown Councillor George Farquhar said: “Another incident at Pokesdown Station this evening. Despite security provided by Network Rail, there needs more to be done.

“The need for additional measures such as full-time manning, turnstiles, CCTV monitoring, intervention teams, community involvement, brightening decoration of the station, signs of hope and inspiration on the walls and anything no matter how small that can be done to break those final moments when people are in the darkest of places from taking that final step.

“But these are only practical measures, in reality we need a change from the direction we are heading as a society.”

Friday’s incident happened just days after a 16-year-old boy was killed by a train near Poole railway station on September 9.

On September 5, a person died on the railway in Boscombe after British Transport Police were called to a report of a casualty on the tracks at 6.35am. Recent deaths at Pokesdown include Frederick Hubbard, 69, on July 8, Gary Wayne Sellman, 27, on June 25 and Highcliffe School pupil Kate Louise Mullins on March 17.

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