Uncle Roger’s Latest Blog

[jjb1970]

I know someone who received a brick in the face, when they were traveling by train, it flew in through an open window. I myself witnessed some scrote launch a brick which landed three inches below the window line of a mk1 compartment I was traveling in.

 

Does it now follow that in the name of safety we must ban all windows on trains because, if it ever did, I personally would never set foot on a train again and would choose to always travel by car, where I am twenty times more likely to be killed.

That's an easy one, you use an appropriate type of window, for example double glazed toughened glass which allows people to look at the world outside and which also provide protection from stones etc.

[Edwin_m]

And indeed quite a topical example.  Many trains still have some windows as toughened glass (often marked as emergency exits) because they can be smashed with the hammer provided for the purpose.  Some research indicated the risk of people being ejected from the train when toughened glass broke ouweighed the risk of fewer people being able to get out of a train with all windows laminated, in the unlikely even that it was critical to get out quickly.  The Croydon tram crash tragically supported this view, as there would have been few or no serious casualties if the windows had remained structurally intact.  I think in America you still have train windows that are removeable by pulling a handle on the rubber seal, which not surprisingly aren't much good for containment.