Chiltern near-miss
Rail Accident Investigation Branch to probe an incident where a Chiltern Railways Class 165 stopped in the path of an LU train.
A Chiltern Railways service ended up on the same path as a London Underground train at Chalfont & Latimer late on June 21.
There were no injuries as a result of the incident, but investigations are under way to establish the cause.
According to a Network Rail incident log seen by RAIL, the 2113 Aylesbury Vale Parkway-London Marylebone, formed of a Class 165 diesel multiple unit, ran through a set of points before traversing a crossover and stopping in the path of a northbound Metropolitan Line S-Stock train that was stationary on Platform 1 (see diagram).
Sources suggest the Chiltern ‘165’ passed a signal at danger and travelled for around half a mile before coming to a stand.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) impounded both trains immediately after the incident, which occurred at around 2140.
A Transport for London spokesman told RAIL: “We apologise to customers that were disrupted by the closure of the Metropolitan Line between Chalfont & Latimer and Chesham. This was the result of an incident involving a Chiltern Railways train near Chalfont & Latimer station on the evening of June
21. We are working with Chiltern Railways to determine exactly what happened.”
According to the log, LU has requested any CCTV footage from the Chiltern DMU covering the area it travelled, any conversations between Chiltern staff to/from the driver of the ‘165’, and a download of the event from the train’s data recorder.
A Chiltern spokeswoman told RAIL: “We have an excellent safety record and are working with the Rail Accident Investigation Branch to understand the causes of this incident.”
Chiltern Class 165s are fitted with tripcocks to allow them to operate on LU infrastructure between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Amersham.
These are designed to stop trains that have passed a signal at danger and are fitted to all national network trains that must operate across London Underground metals.