The Rail Accident Investigation Branch says it has launched an investigation after the derailment in Cumbria last week.
An Avanti West Coast service travelling from Glasgow Central to London Euston derailed at around 06:10 on the 3rd November, south of Shap in Cumbria.
The train was travelling at 83mph when it hit debris that had been washed onto the track.
The train’s first bogie was lifted off the rails and ran derailed for around 560 metres.
9 members of staff at 86 passengers were onboard at the time of the incident, with four people being treated for minor injuries.
The landslip occurred after a period of heavy and sustained rainfall. The preliminary examination found that the drainage channel, which runs across the slope above the washed-out material, was not big enough for the amount of water that was present, leading to the landslip.
Our investigation will determine the sequence of events which led to the derailment and will include consideration of:
- the design, maintenance and management of earthworks and drainage in this area
- the effectiveness of on-site monitoring equipment
- the operational response to adverse weather warnings
- the performance of the train during the derailment
- any underlying factors which might have contributed to the derailment.
Responses
It’ll be interesting to see what the investigation makes of the slope monitoring which was already in place (I assume a known high-risk location), but that failed to detect the landslide.
Well done to the driver who managed to bring the train to a halt. Good job there were no north bound trains at the time.
I read that as a failure of the infrastructure owner ….in this case Network Rail ….to correctly manage the infrastructure. Once again Network Rail very very lucky .. as in no train travelling in the opposite direction that couldn’t be stopped in time. Sadly I suspect 1 of these days Network Rail’s luck will “run out”
Certainly it will only be a matter of time unless they can sort it out
Trouble is, Network Rail will do as they always do and just blame “climate change” and “extreme weather” and attempt to excuse themselves from responsibility.