the accident, questions to the President of the Board of Trade Sir Michael Hicks Beach revealed that in the whole of Ireland only one engine and six vehicles were equipped with an automatic continuous brake in England 18% of the passenger rolling stock had no continuous brake, and a further 22% had non-automatic brakes in Scotland 40% of the passenger rolling stock were without continuous brakes More specifically, for the Great Northern of Ireland: in March 1888 there were 208 drivers and firemen employed and 693 occasions on which they worked a 14-hour day or longer, including two in which they worked over 18 hours of the 518 miles of railway it worked, only 23 were worked on the block system It had no engines or vehicles whose brakes met the requirements of the Board of Trade, furthermore: New legislation The government was already short of parliamentary time in which to pass legislation it was already committed to, and had promised to introduce no further controversial measures. A bill was drafted and introduced, only to be withdrawn when it became clear that some of its other provisions (most notably requiring specified improvements in couplings, so that those engaged in shunting could safely uncouple wagons without having to step into the gap between them) were sufficiently contentious as to jeopardise passage of the non-controversial portions of the bill. For that reason, some Liberal MPs sympathetic to railwaymen's concerns on working hours and the hazards of shunting expressed disappointment that the bill did not go far enough. On the other hand, during the second reading a Liberal MP made the classic argument against detailed and prescriptive regulation: Nonetheless, within two months of the Armagh disaster Parliament had enacted the Regulation of Railways Act 1889, which authorised the Board of Trade to require the use of continuous automatic brakes on passenger railways, along with the block system of signalling and the interlocking of all points and signals. This is often taken as the beginning of the modern era in UK rail safety. Similar accidents Round Oak rail accident – 1 in 75; 23 August 1858 – Excursion runaway; brake not applied Abergele rail disaster – 26 August 1868 – Brake broken by rough shunting Stairfoot rail accident – 12 September 1870 – Poorly secured wagons runaway due to rough shunting Murulla railway accident (26 killed) – 13 September 1926 – Air brake failure