HEADLINE NEWS
Scottish train crash leaves three dead and major line blockage.
RAIB investigates Stonehaven and Llangennech accidents as clear-ups begin; Dates of major engineering works on Isle of Wight announced; Formal start for main HS2 construction; Emergency rail funding deal extended; Heathrow southern access plan wants go-ahead; Rebirth for Chart Leacon depot; Brighter future for reborn Wolverton Works; Stevenage bay opens.
THE DERAILMENT following a landslip at Carmont, four miles south of Stonehaven (Aberdeenshire), on August 12 brought the first loss of life in a train accident in Britain since the Class 390 derailment at Grayrigg on February 23, 2007.
ScotRail's 1T08/06.38 AberdeenGlasgow Queen Street, formed of set HA22 (Nos. 42145, 42564, 42007, 40622) and power cars Nos. 43030/ 43140, was halted by a landslip caused by torrential rain and, with the line ahead blocked, a decision was made to return the train to Stonehaven.
The procedure was to crossover from the southbound to the northbound line to allow the train to travel in the normal direction, and this required a Network Rail Operations manager to clip the crossover points to allow safe use by a passenger train. The area is controlled by traditional absolute block signalling from
Carmont signalbox, which includes semaphore signals.
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
An initial report into the crash by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch revealed that the train stood south of
Carmont for more than two hours. Soon after 09.00, the rain had stopped and the skies cleared, and by 09.30 there was bright sunshine.
A northbound train that had reported the landslip had been held at Stonehaven station because of reports of flooding between Stonehaven and Aberdeen. At 09.10, after its passengers had disembarked, this train moved forward to create space in the station platform.
At 09.25, permission was given for 1T08 to start moving north, using the crossover at Carmont onto the down (northbound) line, which was passed at 09.36 at 5mph. The signaller cleared the signal for the train to proceed to Stonehaven, and its speed increased to 72.8mph after about 1.4 miles, which is within the maximum permitted speed for HSTs of 75mph on this stretch of line.
At around 09.38, the HST struck a landslip covering the down line and derailed. As the track curved to the right, the train continued in a roughly straight line for around 77 yards until it struck a section of a bridge parapet, which was destroyed.
The leading power car continued most of the way over the bridge and fell from the railway down a wooded embankment, as did the third passenger carriage. The first passenger carriage came to rest on its roof, having rotated to be almost at a right angle to the track. The second passenger carriage also overturned onto its roof and came to rest on the first carriage. The fourth passenger carriage remained upright and attached to the rear power car; it also came to rest on the first carriage. All wheelsets of the rear power car derailed, but it remained upright.
There were initial media reports questioning a delay in reporting the accident, as investigations revealed the first report of an accident was received by Police Scotland at 09.45 as a result of smoke being seen from
the crash site caused by the derailed power car catching fire. An off-duty conductor travelling on the train also walked back to the signal box to report what had happened.
This lack of immediate information was, however, the result of the driver and conductor being killed in the accident. A passenger was also killed, but it was fortunate there were only nine passengers and staff on board as the death toll could have been much higher.
GROWING CONCERN
The line remained closed as this issue of the RE went to press nearly a month later, and the circumstances re-enforce concern expressed by the Rail Regulator's safety inspectorate about the potential for landslips, as an increasing number of severe weather incidents have taken place causing embankments to become unstable.
In July, the ORR's annual health and safety report was published and this identified there had been a six-fold increase in flooding events and earthworks failures trebling. Also, long-term average rainfall had been exceeded for seven consecutive months in 2019/20, which had led to extended line closures.
Network Rail has increased renewal and maintenance activity for earthworks and drainage since greater financing was made available from Control Period 5 in
2014. The importance of vegetation management has also been highlighted, with attention to cuttings and embankments that were originally built with steeper slopes than would be case the case today.
E
THE Government is extending the current Emergency
Measures Agreements with the franchised operators.
It had been due to expire in mid-September, and action will be taken to increase passenger numbers and thus revenue from ticket sales.
The arrangements were introduced in March against a background of the public being told not to use trains unless the journey was essential and no alternative means of transport being available. The aim was to provide a safe service for emergency workers with on-board social distancing of two metres.
The franchised operators were then paid for providing the services, with a small margin of 2% allowed for overheads and any income retained by the Department for Transport.
In the proposed new Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements, train operators will be incentivised to encourage more travel, although reduced social distancing measures of one metre with a requirement to wear a mask will continue.
The Government launched a back to work initiative at the beginning of August, but this had little effect on the home-based working culture that has emerged over the last six months. It was estimated the demand for rail journeys represented just 23% of the pre-Covid level.
BACK TO WORK
It is hoped reopening schools for the winter term will encourage more people to return to office-based employment, but the attitude of both Government departments and large employers seems to be that working from home is proving to be effective given available technology and the use of public transport continues to represent an avoidable risk.
It is not expected there will be an open cheque for meeting the cost of continuing operations, and so it is likely services will be cut to reduce the amount of under-utilised capacity being provided. This is a bleak prospect for some branch lines, where high-revenue support payments were needed even before the lockdown. It is understood a suspension of services with low demand has not been ruled out.
The open access operators that were not covered by the Emergency Measures Agreements have now restarted services, with Grand Central providing a reduced timetable from July 26 and Hull Trains from August 21.
No date has yet been published for the start of new services between Blackpool and London Euston.
THE Government has created a Transport Acceleration Unit with the aim of shortening the period required to authorise projects that create jobs and economic value.
One such scheme is proposed by Heathrow Southern Railway Ltd (HSRL), which is a private sector venture. It wants to build six miles of new railway, mainly in tunnel, to connect Heathrow Terminal 5 with the existing rail network at Staines. This will allow trains to serve stations on the route to London Waterloo.
When the Terminal 5 station was completed in 2008 for services to Paddington, sufficient space was included for two additional heavy rail platforms – although these were originally intended for a western rail approach connecting to the Great Western line at Langley.
A commitment was given to Parliament in July this year that the HSRL project would proceed, and the company has urged the Government to authorise construction of the infrastructure given delays from the original submission in March 2018 under the DfT's market-led investment programme.
THE Spencer Group has completed a new 130 metre turnback platform at Stevenage that will allow Govia Thameslink to run two extra services an hour to King's Cross. The £30 million scheme includes more than a mile of additional track and electrification, plus various new switches and crossings, five signals and engineering electrical supply points.
The platform has a passenger lift and stairs connecting to the existing footbridge, a heated waiting room, external seating, ticket machine and barriers.