A runaway horse died on railway tracks and three people trying to catch it were put at risk of electrocution last week after railway managers refused to turn off power to the live rail, Get Hampshire has learned.

The shire horse slipped on to the 750-volt live rail and was electrocuted, despite two requests by train crew on the 6.06pm Aldershot to Alton service for the power to be cut.

According to documents seen by our sister paper the Aldershot Mail, in spite of the crew’s requests, and the fact that there were three unauthorised people just feet away from the lethal rail, managers ordered the train to continue on its journey.

Network Rail, the organisation responsible for running the railway tracks, has launched an investigation.

A spokesman said: “This incident and the subsequent allegations are of concern to us. We will be investigating this.”

A source told the Mail: “The driver requested for the current to be switched off. He did what he was supposed to do.

Horse's suffering

"The driver is able to isolate the current himself, but he was told not to. To make this driver witness that — it’s disgusting. The horse suffered an agonising death.”

Documents seen by the Mail show that the driver was initially told to “proceed with caution” between Aldershot and Farnham due to reports of a horse on the line. He stopped the train when he came across the animal walking along the tracks.

The documents show the driver radioed for the opposite line to be blocked and asked the guard to help him try and restrain the horse, before the pair saw three men walking up along the tracks, trying to catch the escaped animal.

As the horse moved from one side of the tracks to the other, the guard called Aldershot signal box and asked for the power to be shut off, and the driver warned the three trespassers that power was still switched on, according to the leaked report.

After an unsuccessful attempt by the three men and the driver to catch the horse, the driver went back to the train and again contacted the signaller to see when the power would be shut off, the statements show.

Request to shut off power denied

However, he was told that the central network control centre had refused permission to turn off the power because they wanted the train to continue on its journey.

Considering the situation to be unsafe, the driver and guard both refused to move the train, and again asked for the power to be switched off, said the report.

It adds that with the power still running, the three men continued to try to restrain the horse, which was now walking down the centre of the track towards Farnham.

Some moments later, while the driver was speaking to the signal box, the horse lost its footing, fell across two live rails and was electrocuted.

The body then caught fire, covering the area with smoke.

Power finally cut

With the line now blocked by the corpse, a manager arrived on the scene and the electricity supply was finally cut, the documents state.

Passengers on the train were asked to move to the rear coach, where they were held for at least another 20 minutes, before the train eventually travelled back up the line towards Aldershot, arriving at 7.57pm.

A spokeswoman for South West Trains said the incident lasted an hour and 45 minutes, during which both lines were closed, causing delays to passengers. The line did not reopen until 8.40pm.

She said that the decision of the signalman not to isolate the power supply was not an issue for South West Trains, adding that the incident would have been reported to the control centre at Waterloo, which is jointly operated between Network Rail and the train operating companies.

“We apologise to passengers but with an incident like this we have to wait until the train is safe to go ahead.”

She said the company paid for taxis for half of the passengers, while the other half had been able to get a later train when services resumed.

Safety first

Graham Morris, southern district organiser for Aslef, the train driver’s union, said that the electricity supply should always be cut off in situations where there was a threat to people’s safety.

“Whenever there are people on or around the track in an area with a third rail, the first priority should be for the safety of those individuals and the electricity should be turned off,” he said.

“It may be that South West Trains wanted the train to run rather than delay it, but if a driver had requested for the power supply to be turned off, I would expect it to be done without question because it could have endangered people’s lives.”