Mum of girl, 16, killed by train after sitting on track sues Network Rail

A mum whose teenage daughter was killed by a ‘silent’ midnight train as chatted with her best friend on railway tracks is now suing Network Rail.

Straight-A student Milena Gagic, 16, was ‘laughing and giggling’ with Amelia Hustwick before she was hit by the last train from Manchester Victoria to Leeds at around 55mph.

Now her mum Leanne Gagic is now suing Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd for £22,123 in damages, but her barrister says it’s ‘not about money.’

She says Network Rail breached its duty of care by failing to properly warn people that night trains no longer sound their horns at Hipperholme, Halifax, where villagers hear trains whistle over 100 times a day.

Since 2007, a ‘night time quiet period’ has been in force, barring horns between 11pm and 7am, which Mrs Graic says should have been explained with a simple sign.

Both Milena and Amelia had grown up in the area and believed that if a train approached, it would sound its horn.

But Network Rail denies breaching its duty and suggests Milena was herself to blame and says signs are often missed and may not have made much of a difference.

Speaking at London County Court this week, Mrs Gagic said Milena was studying for her A-levels when she died, having clocked up 11 A-stars in her GCSEs.

She had dreams of becoming a zoologist and ‘wanted to go to university very much,’ she added.

Her barrister Stephen Glyn said it was hard to see and hear approaching trains at this crossing location due to curvature of the track.

He said locals such as Milena and Amelia would have been lulled into a false sense of security because train horns continued to sound during the day.

He added Network Rail had long accepted there was a risk at the crossing because ‘whistle boards’ which instruct drivers to sound their horn, were previously in place.

The rail infrastructure body says enforced a ban on using horns at night due to noise pollution complaints, the court heard.

Mr Glyn said Network Rail had ‘done nothing’ to mitigate the risk after removing the whistle board.

‘The girls were simply not looking for a train or looking out for its motion because they relied upon the whistle board,’ he said.

‘It is most unlikely that these two intelligent 16-year-old A-level students would have used the crossing as they did if they had been warned by a sign that trains ran silently at night.’

In a statement by Amelia Hustwick to police, she explained how they had gone out that night after going to the shops to buy ingredients for baking biscuits.

They went to a friend’s house and later sat in the park for a short while and smoked some cannabis.

But neither girl was high when they finally reached the level crossing, she stressed, and Mr Glyn also confirmed no traces of drugs were detected in post mortem reports.

‘We just sat there laughing and giggling,’ she said.

‘The train rushed past out of nowhere going very fast. I looked up and assumed that Milena had jumped out of the way.

‘But then I saw her body lying in a heap ten metres away.

‘We thought if a train comes, it would toot. We just didn’t think they ran at night.’

She said Milena was her ‘favourite person in the world’ and said they were like ‘two peas in a pod.’

Amelia said the pair had gone there because ‘it was a good place to hang out’ and added: ‘We did not go there to take our lives.’

Network Rail barrister Helen Hobhouse said the duty of care was restricted to pedestrians crossing the track.

‘There would have been no significant risk to anyone using the crossing between 11pm and 7am, provided they checked carefully in both directions before crossing the track,’ she added.

Judge Heather Baucher has reserved judgement until a later date.