RAIB to examine Chalfont & Latimer near-miss

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has confirmed it will be investigating the incident where a Chiltern Railways Class 165 ended up in the path of a Metropolitan Line train at Chalfont & Latimer station on June 21 ( RAIL 908).

RAIB said the driver had passed a signal at danger and reset the automatic braking system on the ‘165’ he was in charge of, before coming to a halt 23 metres from the London Underground service.

According to RAIB, the incident happened at around 2145, when the ‘165’ passed the signal at danger without authority. This signal was protecting a junction through which a route was already set for a northbound train (the Metropolitan Line S-Stock) to cross in front of the southbound train.

Passing the red resulted in an automatic brake application that stopped the CR train some 310 metres beyond the signal. Shortly afterwards the driver reset the tripcock and continued towards the station, some 620 metres away.

This took it onto the northbound line, where the London Underground train was stationary as its signal had changed to red after the ‘165’ had passed the red signal earlier.

No injuries were reported, but some track components were damaged as the southbound train had passed through a route not set for it.

RAIB will seek to identify the sequence of events leading to the SPAD and subsequent nearmiss. It will also investigate the actions of those involved, CR’s arrangements regarding training and the competence and fitness of its drivers, CR’s management of risk associated with its drivers operating on the LU system, how risk associated with SPADs by non-LUL trains is managed on the Underground network, and any relevant underlying factors.