The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has released a Safety Digest into a collision of a train with a footbridge on the Dean Forest Railway on 14th August 2025.

The collision occurred at around 10:55 on Thursday, 14 August 2025, when an excavator being transported on a train travelling at around 10 mph struck a footbridge at St Mary’s Halt station at Lydney in Gloucestershire.

The collision caused the footbridge to collapse, and parts of it fell onto the station platform and the moving train.

There were no injuries resulting from the collision, as there were no pedestrians on the footbridge and the railway was not open to the public.

The train consisted of a Class 08 diesel locomotive propelling two four-wheel well wagons and a bogie brake van, which was at the leading end.

It was being operated by volunteers from the Dean Forest Railway and was transporting an excavator around 3 miles from Lydney Junction to Whitecroft, with the excavator on the wagon nearest the locomotive.

The train driver could not see the excavator, as the locomotive’s driving cab was at the rear. Six volunteers, including a shunter, were in the brake van.

The shunter was riding on the leading veranda and was responsible for keeping a lookout and giving movement instructions to the driver by radio. On hearing a loud bang, the driver was immediately instructed to stop.

The collision happened because the excavator was on the wagon with its bucket resting on the wagon’s raised front deck, which increased the overall height of the excavator.

The increased height resulted in the upper part of the dipper arm attached to the excavator’s boom being too high to pass under the footbridge.

The railway maintains a list of railway staff and volunteers qualified to operate excavators. They also require additional railway-specific training to load, unload, and stow excavators on a rail wagon. When an excavator is stowed on a Loriot wagon, the bucket should rest on the lower deck, but that was not recorded as a written instruction.

A qualified excavator operator should have loaded the excavator onto the wagon at Lydney Junction and offloaded it at Whitecroft, but that operator was delayed. The railway manager then asked another volunteer if they would be willing to load the excavator, which they agreed to do.

Although the operator had some experience operating a 6-tonne excavator and had passed an external excavator operator’s theory test, they had not passed the practical test or progressed to become a qualified excavator operator.

The operator had loaded the excavator and stowed it with its bucket resting on the raised upper deck at the front of the wagon.

During the loading, the train driver and shunter went to inspect a different wagon in another part of the station yard and did not witness the loading activity.

There was no requirement for the driver or shunter to check the load before the train departed, and there is no equipment to allow out-of-gauge loads to be detected at Lydney Junction.

This accident showed that staff and volunteers on heritage railways should only undertake safety-critical tasks if they are trained and assessed as being competent.

Additionally, when transporting large or unusual loads by train, it is essential to be aware of any loading gauge restrictions. It is also important that heritage railways undertake appropriate risk assessments and implement effective controls for their activities.

Other reports issued by the RAIB recently include a preliminary examination into near-misses in Bedfordshire involving a train travelling at over 100 mph and at London Bridge Station.