‘BRAKES FAULT TO BLAME’ FOR RUNAWAY LOCO:
OUT OF CONTROL TRAIN TRAVELLED MORE THAN MILE THROUGH LEVEL CROSSINGS
AN out-of-control locomotive travelled more than a mile over a number of level crossings and through a station on a popular narrow gauge railway, a report reveals.
The incident happened on the Welsh Highland Railway at Beddgelert in April, and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) of the Department for Transport has made a series of recommendations to ensure a similar incident doesn’t occur again.
The report found that the Vale of Ffestiniog, a diesel locomotive, was heading towards Porthmadog from the Caernarfon direction at about 9.17am on April 16, but was unable to stop as it descended a steep gradient into Beddgelert station.
“After passing through the station at around 10mph, the locomotive passed a signal at danger and then entered a single line section without authority,” said the report.
“The driver tried various ways of applying more braking effort but was unable to slow the locomotive down.
“After travelling for around 1.7km, the locomotive came to a halt when the gradient levelled out.
“The driver was uninjured, and no other train was on the line at the time.”
No one was hurt as a result of the incident.
An investigation was launched and found the incident occurred because the locomotive’s brakes had been modified in a way that limited the movement of the brake blocks.
This modification and the wet conditions on the day prevented the brakes applying the necessary force to slow the locomotive down.
The issue with the brake system modification had remained undetected during the 18 years since the modification was made.
The RAIB investigation found the change to the locomotive’s brakes had not been adequately documented or controlled.
It added that, although not directly linked to the incident, the locomotive did not have a documented brake inspection procedure, and the “deadman” safety system was not enabled on the locomotive when the runaway occurred.
As a result of the investigation, RAIB has made three recommendations to the Ffestiniog Railway Company which relate to improving its management of engineering change, ensuring its maintenance processes are documented, and controlling the use of the “deadman” safety system.
A fourth recommendation is addressed to the Heritage Railway Association to promote the distribution of this report’s findings to other heritage railways.
The Ffestiniog Railway said: “The Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways have safety as a first priority, have cooperated fully with RAIB and ORR in the compilation of this report and have already acted upon every recommendation in it.
“Further we have shared the knowledge and lessons learnt from this incident with other railways via the Heritage Railway Association.
“It is important to note that the locomotive was travelling at a very low speed throughout this incident.
“Further that in an emergency it would have been possible to stop the locomotive by placing it in reverse gear.
“However, as this may have done significant damage to the locomotive the driver decide not to take this course of actions seeing that the crossings were clear.”