An accident in which a driver was injured when his train hit a partly-open gate at a level crossing outside Lincoln, was probably caused by a faulty gate stop, according to an investigation by the Department for Transport’s Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB).
In the early morning of February 20th, 2010, a train from Sheffield to Lincoln, struck the up-side gate at the manned Stow Park level crossing. The timber crossing gate was destroyed by the collision and the upper rail of the gate penetrated the cab of the train causing minor injuries to the driver’s legs.
The RAIB’s investigation found that the up-side gate was not securely held in position across the road because there was insufficient overlap between the front-tumbler part of the gate stop and the bottom corner of the gate. The gate had therefore been able to swing back into the path of the train.
The signaller’s view of the gate stop was restricted by a mirror mounted on a backboard outside the signal box to allow observation of the road.
An inspection by Network Rail in 2008 found that some of the gate cranks were worn and, as a result, rodding and gate stops were renewed in November 2008.
Following this, Network Rail maintenance staff experienced difficulty in maintaining the gate stop and gate so that the gate was securely held by the stop, and at the same time did not drag on the road surface. Three times (in
May, August and December 2009) the gates and/or stops were adjusted to try and correct this problem in response to a reported fault.
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According to the RAIB, the probable cause of the accident was that the travel of the gate stop had been reduced when the crank was replaced and it no longer rose sufficiently far above the surface of the road to reliably prevent the gate from being able to ride over the gate stop and swing back across the railway.
The full RAIB bulletin can be found at: http://www.raib.gov.uk
/cms_resources.cfm?file=/Bulletin%20(Stow%20Park)%
2010-2010.pdf
(July 23rd, 2010) |
