§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the evidence produced at the inquiry held on behalf of the Board of Trade into the accident to an electric express at Hall Road Station, Southport, in July last, shows that several minutes, probably four, elasped before the live rails were rendered dead; and will he consider the expediency of requiring railway companies using electrically-charged rails to adopt a system under which the 866 live rails may be at once rendered dead in case of accident.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEI am aware that in the case of the accident in question, the electrically-charged rail was not rendered "dead" until about four minutes after the accident, and this is clearly stated in the Report of the inspecting officer. No injury appears to have resulted in this case from the live rail, but the station-master at Hall Road should have at once made use of the telephone provided from his station to the power stations, and had he done so, the current would have been cut off in a few seconds. I understand that iron bars are carried on all the electrically-worked trains on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, and are supplied to the station-masters for the purpose of setting up a short circuit and thereby blowing out the circuit breakers at the electrical sub-stations in cases of emergency.