The reporter’s view: Howard Johnston

Well into the late 1980s, railway mishaps were relatively frequent and still seen almost as a way of life. Maybe it was the occurrence of two in the space of 12 weeks - and just nine miles apart - that jolted our awareness that no more time should be lost in introducing new safety systems.

I happened to be doing some relief work in London (on a Fleet Street newspaper) on Saturday March 4 1989, and suddenly realised that my knowledge was being eagerly sought after in the newsroom! The time of the accident (early on a Saturday afternoon) virtually guaranteed it major media coverage.

As I also wrote the story in RAIL a couple of days later, all eyes were on the railworthiness of the Mk 1-design coaches that formed the eight-car 1217 Littlehampton-Victoria - especially as the Clapham disaster was still very much at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

However, considering that the crash took place at 60mph, and that six coaches plunged down a high embankment into people’s gardens (with the loss of five lives - not six as originally reported - and 88 serious injuries), it actually demonstrated the robustness of the 20-year-old coaches.

The later public inquiry confirmed the fears for the unreliability of the relatively new signalling centre covering Three Bridges, London Bridge and Victoria, although the Littlehampton train driver had clearly not observed caution signals and slowed down in time.

Tragedy can strangely repeat itself, and just two days after Purley two Class 303 electric multiple units collided head-on at Bellgove on the Glasgow suburban system, killing a retired railway worker passenger and a driver who had driven past a red signal.

Suddenly, and regardless of the likely cost of national implementation, Automatic Train Protection had risen to the top of the public agenda…