My Whole World Collapsed: Woman Reveals the Moment She Found Out Her Daughter Died on Train Tracks

A devastated mother has revealed her heartache after her 16-year-old daughter was found dead on electrified train tracks after a night out with friends.

Teen Taiyah Peebles's tragic death has now sparked calls for safety around the tracks, that carry up to 750 volts, to be improved.


Hayley, from Herne Bay, told BBC South East Today: "My heart just broke. I knew it was her. My whole world ended. I haven't got a life now, I just exist.

"She was my best friend.

"Taiyah got off the train and the last you see of her is from the onboard camera on the train.

"And then they don't really know what happened after that."

The 47-year-old said her daughter, who has been remembered as a funny, outgoing and popular young woman, may not have tried to cross the tracks if there had been a barrier at the end of the platform on the fateful day in July at Herne Bay station in Kent.

She said: "If there was something to stop her walking of the end of the platform then she would've turned around."

Sobbing, she added: "Losing a child is the worst feeling in the world.

"You're prepared for losing your parents all your life but nothing prepares you for burying your own child."

Taiyah had gone to Whitstable for the day with her boyfriend and friends having recently finished their GCSE exams.

They caught the last train home but Taiyah got off alone.

Network Rail has since said it is currently undergoing an "extensive programme" to improve safety.

More than 90 people have been killed on the tracks in the south east of England in the last five years.

The BBC reported that it would take more than £17billion to convert 2,500 miles of railway, a new fleet or trains and an infrastructure overhaul, to convert electrified rails to overhead.

Andy Derbyshire, Network Rail's chief operating officer for the area, said: "We're working with British Transport Police and the Samaritans, going out to schools and youth groups to talk about the risk of the railways, we are assessing our higher risk sites and putting in level crossing barriers and fences."

But Hayley said "nowhere with 750 volts of electricity is low risk".

She said: "You can't get onto a building site without a hard hat and certificates, but you can easily wander onto a railway. It's too late for Taiyah, but I'd like to see overhead rails introduced so her death won't be in vain.

"She won't be the last child to die on a railway. You can't put a price on a life like that."

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Via The Sun UK