Ladbroke Grove Railway Accident
The railway accident at Ladbroke Grove (rarely, railway accident from Paddington ) was a head-on collision, located in the London district of Ladbroke Grove on the access route to the terminal station from London Paddington occurred on 5 October 1999th An outgoing train ran over a signal indicating "stop" and collided with an incoming train. 31 dead and 523 injured were the result. This was the worst accident ever to occur on the Great Western Main Line , and it was instrumental in reversing part of the rail reform in Britain .
Starting position
At 8 am 06 of the left as a commuter railway company Thames Trains A tripartite railcars of series 165 Paddington Station with the aim of Great Bedwyn . The train was only with the train control system automatic warning system fitted (ATS). If a signal that does not indicate “travel clear” is passed without the engine driver operating the dead man's device , ATS triggers a warning tone, but no emergency braking . The train should be directed to the appropriate track at Ladbroke Grove Junction for its onward journey west. Its driver was not yet very experienced, the aspect of " route knowledge " had been neglected during his training and he had only made about 20 exits from Paddington station.
A High Speed Train of the First Great Western of two diesel power cars of the series 43 at each end of the train and 8 remote coaches was simultaneously from Cheltenham to Paddington on the road and was from the west in the approach to Ladbroke Grove Junction .
Between the train station Paddington and the 3.2 km front located operating agency Ladbroke Grove Junction all tracks of were multi-pronged track for two-way working equipped, more flexible to the entrance of trains in the station and more platforms to be able to approach. Beyond Ladbroke Grove Junction , the four-track line there was only expanded for directional operation. Exiting trains had to be directed to one of the two tracks leading out of town at the latest. The five entry tracks from the direction of Paddington into the operations center were secured by signals that were mounted next to each other on a signal bridge. The signal that was supposed to regulate the entry of the local train into the operating center had already been misunderstood several times by the locomotive drivers: within six years there had been eight journeys against the signal indicating “stop”. In the later investigation it was found that it was the last of all five signals on the signal bridge that the engine driver could see due to visual obstructions. The locomotive driver of the local train was never informed of this danger point. In addition, the signal systems had been completely rebuilt a few years earlier in order to enable track changing operations. They were installed prematurely. A final approval for the signal systems was still pending at the time of the accident.
The morning of October 5, 1999 was a sunny day. Around 8 o'clock the sun was flat behind the train leaving Paddington and was reflected in the signals.
the accident
In front of Ladbroke Grove Junction, the railcar was given an initial “wait stop” signal with a single amber light and then “stop” at the signal bridge in front of Ladbroke Grove Junction , as it had to cross the entrance tracks and give the long-distance train the right of way when entering Paddington has been. The driver may not have recognized this correctly because of the reflecting sun. That could not be clarified with absolute certainty, since he too was killed in the accident. The same applies to the crucial signal on the signal bridge, which he probably did not correctly recognize due to the reflective sun.
After he had passed the "stop" signal, the following switches led him to the track in the opposite direction on which the train from Cheltenham was approaching. The trains collided about 600 meters further west at an added speed of 213 km / h. Both drivers died.
The impact completely destroyed the first two passenger cars on the local train, while the last car remained undamaged. Its tank was ripped open and the diesel fuel ignited. This produced in the debris field, which now formed the two trains of fire . The first car of the long-distance train was particularly hard hit.
consequences
31 passengers and railway employees died, 24 on the local train, 7 on the long-distance train, one of them from burns . 227 people had to be hospitalized, and a further 296 people were injured.
The accident would have been prevented by the automatic train control system GW ATP , which was available but was not installed for cost reasons , which in this case would have triggered an emergency brake. After the 1997 Southall railway accident , this was the second serious railway accident to occur on the Great Western Main Line, just a few miles east of the first accident site. Both railway accidents made a significant contribution to shaking public confidence in the privatization of the railway . But it was the railway accident at Hatfield on 17 October 2000 with four dead and 70 injured then led to the collapse of the rail infrastructure company Railtrack , which on 7 October 2001 under receivership was created and written on October 18 of 2002. The rail infrastructure was sold to the newly formed, not-for-profit Network Rail for £ 500 million .
The official investigation was carried out by Lord Cullen . Since the engine driver who had run over the signal showing "Halt" was killed in the accident, there was no criminal trial . However, it was Thames Trains with a penalty is in the amount of £ 2 million because of the loss-making engine driver training and Network Rail , successor of Railtrack, with a fine of £ 4 million because of careless handling of the problems at the signal.
In addition, the railway supervision ( Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate ) was restructured and expanded in 2003 by the Rail Safety and Standards Board and in 2005 by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch . The signal system that was the cause of the accident was modified.
A memorial garden overlooking the accident site was set up, accessible from the parking lot of the neighboring supermarket of the company. Sainsbury .
See also
literature
- Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry 1 ( Memento of March 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) = Part 1 of the investigation: description of the accident, its investigation, conclusions and recommendations (PDF, 3 MB)
- Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry 2 = Part 2 of the investigation = Part 2 of the investigation: Rail safety management and regulations (pdf 1.3 MB).
- Erich Preuss : Railway accidents at Deutsche Bahn. Causes - Background - Consequences. Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-613-71229-6 , pp. 105f.
Web links
- Paddington Survivors Group - website of accident survivors.
Coordinates: 51 ° 31 '26.5 " N , 0 ° 12' 41.7" W.