Sheffield derailment

THE Rail Accident Investigation Branch has made recommendations to Network Rail regarding processes for identifying high risk derailment locations after 16 wagons of a train carrying cement powder from Hope to Dewsbury came off the rails at the north end of Sheffield station on November 11 last year.

The RAIB found that a number of track screws had failed several weeks or possibly months earlier, allowing the rails to spread apart, but the failures had not been identified by NR’s maintenance inspections.

Recommendations were also made for safety-critical changes to processes, standards governing fitment of check rails and track geometry data formats.