NR must change user-worked level crossing management
CHANGES to how Network Rail manages user-worked level crossings, introduces new signalling equipment and management of the competence of signalling shift managers have been recommended by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), in its report into a collision between a train and tractor at Hockham Road, Thetford, on April 10 2016.
The root cause of the accident was that the signaller gave the tractor driver permission to cross the railway when the 1204 Norwich to Cambridge train, formed of three-coach 170204 travelling at 87mph, was approaching, hitting the tractor at 1230. The tractor driver was seriously injured, and the train driver and four passengers suffered minor injuries.
The RAIB found that the signaller involved had lost his awareness of the position of the 1204 Norwich-Cambridge while covering meal breaks for colleagues. The investigation body says his levels of concentration may have lapsed and that his competence to operate the workstation safely and effectively had “not been adequately monitored”.
A Bombardier-developed system installed at the level crossing in 2012, to provide warning of approaching trains to users, had been decommissioned following concerns from NR about its safety integrity. Other factors raised by the RAIB concluded that the number of screens at the workstation may have been insufficient, and that arrangements in the Cambridge signalbox for managing fatigue among signalling staff had been inadequate.
Failures in ensuring the signaller’s competence to operate the workstation were also pointed out, with issues involving training criticised. The lack of engagement required on the Thetford workstation also played a role. The signaller is required to monitor trains, only acting when a level
crossing user requests permission to cross, or if a technical failure occurs.
RAIB says NR should review measures for the protection of user-worked crossings (UWCs), with options for consideration including providing better information for signallers, increased use of automatic warning systems and closure or replacement of UWCs with automatic crossings.
It also says NR should review and improve its processes for introducing signalling equipment where the user interface has significantly altered, including the selection, training and management of staff who operate the new equipment.
The final recommendation is that NR should review the competence management arrangements for Signalling Shift Managers to provide assurance that they are competent to use all the equipment they may be required to operate.