Safety
‘a number of lights and other features’ that could have distracted the driver, and raised concerns about tail lamp reliability. However, it also questioned whether permissive working was needed on the Down Helsby line at all, and called for a review of all lines where it was authorised. It wasn’t the first time this recommendation had been made, yet it would be an accident at Stafford in August 1990 that brought actual change. Here, an ECS formation was ‘called on’ to a platform occupied by a Manchester Piccadilly–Penzance and failed to stop in time. The collision killed the driver of the former and injured 36 people on the latter. Though the investigation suggested that the dead man might not have been in a fit state to drive, having worked 25 shifts in a row without a day off and attended a presentation ‘do’ the day before, it added that the passenger train had been given a proceed aspect, which might have been taken by the ECS driver as applying to his train.
The internal inquiry led to an enhancement of the Track Circuit Block regulations, specifically the addition of an instruction that, before signalling a train into an occupied platform line at a station where it’s not booked to call, the signaller must advise the
driver of the circumstances verbally. The HSE report of 1994 recommended a different addition, similar to what later became Regulation 3.4.4.5: ‘Once you have signalled a second train into an occupied platform, you must wait until the second train has stopped in the platform before you can allow the first train to leave.’ However, when debated by industry the following year, this was felt to be too restrictive for general adoption. But Stafford – and a number of other accidents during the 1990’s – also led to a 60 per cent reduction in places where permissive working was practiced, and to the introduction of ‘Huddersfield controls’, which prohibits two trains moving in a section simultaneously (that is, one departing while a second enters the platform). Where the signalling doesn’t enforce this, the signalling regulations require the signaller to do so him/herself. All these changes helped reduce the risk associated with permissive working to a point where incidents have fallen since the 1990’s. Looking ahead, the greater approach speed control possible with ERTMS may allow more permissive
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moves to be undertaken, which may increase flexibility further by allowing more attachments to be made in stations, and so on. But while collisions may be less common, the incident at Norwich on 21 July 2013 shows that the inherent risk from putting two trains into one section remains. This means that, while drivers must remain vigilant, so must we as an industry.
•
Greg Morse is RSSB’s Operational Feedback Specialist. The views expressed in this article are his own. Greg’s book on railway accidents will be published by Shire later this year. Follow Greg on Twitter: @GregMorseAuthor
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