Police have named the man who sadly died after an accident on the railway near Surbiton station on Tuesday (February 9).
British Transport Police (BTP) who responded to the incident alongside London Ambulance Service (LAS) and London Fire Brigade, said that the person who was 'struck' and killed in the incident was Tyler Byrne, 30, from Aldershot.
As the Surrey Comet reported previously, emergency services raced to the scene of the accident near Surbiton station on Tuesday after they were called around 11.39am.
Despite the best efforts of the first responders, Tyler was pronounced dead at the scene.
In the aftermath of his death, National Rail's Chief Executive Andrew Haines said he was "devastated" to learn of what he described as a "tragic accident" and confirmed that the transport authority would "cooperate fully" with BTP and Rail Accident Investigation Branch in their investigation into what happened.
Surbiton: A statement from Andrew Haines, chief executive, Network Rail. pic.twitter.com/7hda8fbQd8
— Network Rail (@networkrail) February 9, 2021
Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association union, said a "full and thorough" investigation must take place to establish the circumstances and what had "gone wrong".
Mr Cortes added: "Any loss of life on our railways is a tragedy.
"It would be wrong to speculate at this time about what has gone wrong, but a full and thorough investigation must take place, so lessons can be learned.
"Our union has been warning Network Rail about the alarming number of near misses and fatalities we have seen over the past year.
"Our Network Rail members do so much to keep our railways running smoothly day in, day out, and must be able to do this in a safe environment.
"Our union will never compromise on safety, and safety can never be taken for granted.
"It is simply not acceptable in this day and age that people go out to work and end up losing their lives."
A report from the ORR last year found that Network Rail was not doing enough to control risks to track workers.
The report, published in July 2020, found that "too much emphasis was placed on track workers implementing and following complicated safe systems of work".
The report highlighted the death of two workers at Margam in July 2019, and said the systems "depended on everyone doing the right things in the right way at the right time".
"We found that much worker protection also depends on the vigilance of lookouts armed with flags and whistles," it said.
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