An Interim Report has been released following the collision between two passenger trains in Bedfordshire on the 19th June.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has been investigating the fatal crash which occurred at around 17:13.
The crash saw 1H46, the 16:40 East Midlands Railway Corby to London St Pancras service, collide with the rear of stationary 1B67, the 15:50 Nottingham to London St Pancras service.
The driver of 1H46 sadly suffered fatal injuries and a further 160 people were injured.
RAIB have stated that 1B67 was stationary following an unexpected automatic emergency brake application. The position of 1B67 was within signal WH152, meaning that the preceding signal WH154 displayed red.
Forward-facing CCTV from 1H46 showed that WH154 displayed a correct red signal, and the train continued to accelerate past it.
The brakes were applied around 10 seconds before the collision (based on on-train data recorders), while the train was travelling at around 76 mph, with a speed reduction down to 50mph at the point of collision.
The report covers the events, but investigations are still ongoing into why the series of events occurred, including why 1H46 passed the danger signal.
Further information on the recovery of the two trains can be found here.
The full report can be found via RAIB’s website.
Responses
Yes I have read the report.
Noting that after the impact not a single GSM-R handset was working on the class 810 meaning no member of staff able to communicate with the signaller to have the passage of other trains stopped. And the first the signaller knew of this incident was when a passenger used a lineside SPT to call in . Now on reading the ISRE circulars it would appear that Network Rail think it appropriate that SPTs can be removed because of GSM-R .. Seems if Network Rail needs to be instructed to think again, and as for those FIRSE in the ISRE supporting such a move they need to recognise it’s time to spend more time on their allotments.