Lewisham Railway Accident (1957)
The Lewisham railway accident was a rear-end collision at Lewisham station in the London borough of the same name , in which a bridge was destroyed on December 4, 1957 , which fell on the train. 90 dead and 173 injured were the result.
Starting position
That evening there was thick fog in the London area with visibility of only 20 meters in places, which also led to train delays. The train protection on the line worked with two advance signals in front of each main signal , but was not equipped with a train control system that could trigger an emergency brake when crossing a signal that required a "stop", or even trigger an alarm signal at the advance signal when a speed reduction or a stop signal was announced.
The first train, a ten-part electric multiple unit that carried around 1,500 passengers , was on its way to Hayes, Kent . The signal box attendant at Parks Bridge Junction was unsure which train it was when approaching due to delays caused by the fog and changes in the order of trains. He therefore set the signal to "Stop" in order to speak to the engine driver using the telephone on the signal and to ensure the identity of the train. The train came to a stop shortly behind a bridge before the signal indicating “stop”. A railway line ran on this bridge that came from the Holborn Viaduct station and crossed the first line here without crossing.
An express train , which consisted of a steam locomotive and 11 cars , drove behind the electric multiple unit at a block distance and was on its way to Ramsgate . There were about 700 travelers in it . The train was traveling at around 30 mph (50 km / h).
the accident
The second train disregarded two pre-signals , which announced a main signal that had to be stopped by not reducing the speed. Only when the stoker perceived a main signal indicating "Halt" did he call to the engine driver to brake. But it was no longer possible to stop the train in front of the signal . At about 6:20 p.m. he hit the first train standing in front of him at around 40 km / h. The last wagon of the stationary train was smashed by the steam locomotive, and the wagon in front of it was raised. He fell onto the car that was in front of him. As a result of the impact, the tender and the first passenger car of the express train were thrown against a support of the bridge of the railway overpass, knocked it away and caused it to collapse. The bridge crushed two cars of the train section of the express train that had come to a standstill underneath, and the following cars on the train drove into the rubble.
Two minutes later, a railcar coming from Holborn Viaduct and which should have crossed the collapsed bridge managed to stop just in time by emergency braking before it fell into the rubble. The leading car, however, was already hanging over the defect.
consequences
90 dead and 173 injured, of which 109 had to be hospitalized, were the result. A plaque at Lewisham station today commemorates the accident and the victims.
All four routes that passed under the collapsed bridge, the route that led over the bridge and another that branched off immediately in front of the bridge were interrupted. The lines under the bridge could not go back into operation until December 12, the line above one day later, after a temporary bridge was built from components provided by the military. The structure turned out to be so stable that it is still in operation today.
The Jury of the coroner came to the conclusion that there had been gross negligence. The coroner himself came to the judgment that there was no fault. The engine driver of the second train was charged with manslaughter , but acquitted in two trials because the jury did not come to a consistent verdict .
The investigation by the Ministry of Transport showed that there had been no technical failure of the signals. He came to the conclusion that an automatic warning system would have prevented the accident . The fact that this was necessary to install in order to prevent the crossing of signals showing “stop” had already been established after the railway accident at Harrow and Wealdstone station in 1952. In implementing this knowledge, however, priorities were set that the route in Lewisham had not taken into account until then.
See also
literature
- JAB Hamilton: British Railway Accidents of the 20th Century . (ND: Disaster down the line). George Allen and Unwin / Javelin Books 1967. ISBN 978-0-7137-1973-4
- Ministry of Transport: Report on the collision which occurred on 4th December 1957 at Harrow at St Johns station, Lewisham . London 1958 (PDF; 2.2 MB).
- OS Nock: Historic Railway Disasters . 2nd edition Ian Allan 1980.
- LTC Rolt : Red for Danger . Bodley Head / David and Charles / Pan Books 1956.
- Ascanio Schneider, Armin Masé: Disasters on rails. Railway accidents, their causes and consequences . Zurich 1968, p. 47 ff.
- Peter Tatlow: Harrow and Wealdstone 50 Years On: Clearing up the Aftermath . The Oakwood Press 2002. ISBN 0-85361-593-4 .
- Robert C Turner: Black Clouds and White Feathers . Oxford Publishing Co 1990. ISBN 0-86093-457-8 , Chapter 8: Five Miles and 4 Seconds to Disaster.
- Adrian Vaughan: Obstruction Danger . Guild Publishing 1989. ISBN 978-1-85260-055-6 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Schneider / Masé, p. 47 f., 52.
- ↑ a b c d e Ministry of Transport: Report.
- ^ NN: Negligence Seen In Rail Deaths; Coroner Balks . In: Globe and Mail , January 1, 1958, p. 2.
Coordinates: 51 ° 28 ′ 4.2 " N , 0 ° 1 ′ 10.4" W.