CCTV image shows the moment a pram with a two-month old baby inside hits moving train at Banbury station

A report released by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) today (November 7) found the accident occurred because the parent of the child momentarily let go of the pram as the train was pulling into the station.

The parent was readying herself to load the pram on the Reading to York train on platform two at around 12:26pm, when they picked up a luggage bag and turned to face a relative who was travelling with them.

As the family were standing on a section of the platform that is sloped towards the tracks, the pram rolled forward and collided with the train that was moving at an estimated 35mph.

The collision caused the pram to spin and tip over, and despite the efforts of the relative who tried to help, the baby fell from the pram onto the platform surface.

In the report, it states that CCTV footage shows the parent and relative standing with the pram facing parallel to the platform edge in the 10 minutes leading up to the train's arrival.

However, in the 15 seconds before the accident, the parent moved the pram so that it was facing the edge of the platform, with its front wheels touching the yellow line.

The report found that at the time of the construction of Banbury’s station, there was no requirement for platforms to slope away from the railway, and many stations used sloped platforms to help water drainage.

The RAIB said it wasn’t able to determine why the child’s parent momentarily let go of the unbraked pram on the platform.

They said: “The small degree of slope present is unlikely to have been apparent to the infant’s parent, who possibly became momentarily distracted while unaware of the hazard created by the slope.”

The report also found that there were warning signs indicating that the platform was sloped, but the design of the signs did not match the design of signs that are typically used to convey safety information.

The RAIB said: "Following the accident, Chiltern Railways installed signage in the customer lifts at Banbury station in addition to reviewing the signage on the platform surface.”