Rush hour train derailed by tunnel points fault

Published on Tuesday 17 February 2009 23:29

A TRAIN crashed on to its side, injuring two rail staff, because of track maintenance errors, an official investigation has shown.

The First ScotRail train was derailed in a tunnel near Glasgow city centre because of a faulty set of points, according to the Department for Transport's rail accident investigation branch (RAIB).

The incident, which happened near Exhibition Centre station at the height of the morning rush hour, closed the busy cross-city commuter line between Partick and Rutherglen for two days.

The three-car train was not carrying passengers, but a First ScotRail driver and a ticket examiner in the rear carriage were thrown down as it toppled over and hit the tunnel wall.

That driver was taken to hospital suffering from shock and was off work for several weeks, while the ticket examiner suffered minor injuries.

A trainee who was driving the train, and an instructor accompanying him, were uninjured.

Investigators said the two drivers in the train's cab had heard "a screeching sound and then a loud bang" as the vehicle crossed from one track to another at points. The carriage was significantly damaged.

The train was travelling at just 12mph, but the carriage is thought to have toppled over because its wheels skidded on the concrete slab beneath the rails on that section of track.

There are normally sleepers and ballast beneath the rails, which can help keep trains upright in low-speed derailments.

The RAIB found the points were not in working order because they had become misshapen while a previous fault was being repaired, and had not been lubricated. The repair work had also not been properly inspected.

It said the problem lay with a new measuring gauge wrongly used by engineers, who had been trained in classrooms rather than on track.

Network Rail was ordered to improve training and review its maintenance work on points.

It was also asked to assess the risks of installing points on concrete slabs.

The crash happened shortly after 8:30am on 3 September, 2007, as the train was travelling from Exhibition Centre station to Anderston.

It had completed a service between Motherwell and Anderston, then continued west to a siding at the Exhibition Centre station. The train was returning east to Anderston to start a new service back to Motherwell when it derailed.

A spokesman for Network Rail said: "The RAIB's report highlights issues that were also identified by our own internal investigation into this incident.

"Changes have already been made to our training and maintenance regimes as a result."

A First ScotRail spokesman said: "Safety is paramount. We welcome the recommendations. We are also working with Network Rail to prevent any further instances of this nature."