They are a part of rail life, rail becomes old and does deteriorate over time.

BBC: York railway line gap risked tragedy - RMT

Having updated Lonely Planet's Trans-Siberian Railway guide a couple times, and clocked something like 15 to 20 days of Russian rail time in my life, my first remembrances of the Trans-Siberian rarely consider what is out the window.

BBC: Riding the virtual Trans-Siberian

An inquest decided he took his own life and the coroner praised police and rail staff who tried to save him.

BBC: Gatwick Airport

"Where a road or footpath meets the railway there will always be a risk - tragically, for a few people every year, this results in injury or loss of life, " said Tracey Young, Network Rail's community safety manager for Wales.

BBC: Level crossings: Wales safety work after 33 near misses

Throughout its life Amtrak has made the argument, repeatedly, that rail is the most cost-effective and environmentally sound form of travel.

CNN: Amtrak train: No better way to connect with U.S. voters

Crew members were not obliged to wear life jackets and the skipper condoned standing on the top rail, the report said.

BBC: Fisherman who fell overboard was 'not wearing life jacket'

And though her life and those of the financiers that populate the sterile walkways of Canary Wharf are only separated by the rail lines at Poplar station, for Lorna, they are worlds apart.

CNN: UK's poorest banking on food donations as austerity bites