Another level crossing crash - 18 injured

[JamieLei]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-11006018

Sadly normally in a level crossing accident, it's the motor vehicle which is destroyed and the train and its passengers come out fine. Sadly no matter how much NR say that level crossings are safe, it can't avoid situations like this where drivers do not follow procedure. Comments?

[SwissFan91]

I hope those four that are seriously injured in hospital make a full recovery, especially the driver, he must be traumatised.

[audigex]

Just saw this too - looks like the tanker drive might be fine? Presumably his cab was past the crossing, and the back was full of sewage; hence he just got spun around, but for the train it was like hitting a wall. Hope everyone recovers: those cabs aren't particularly well protected - class 156?

[Badger]

Sadly no matter how much NR say that level crossings are safe, it can't avoid situations like this where drivers do not follow procedure. Comments?

Only the truck driver to blame. Must have been too much effort to ring the signaller. Idiot.

class 156?

Yeah, looks like it.

[Kevo00]

Oh dear. Lets hope all those involved make a recovery - pretty shocking that 18 out of presumably 22 people on the train were injured in this.

But of course this (presumably) wasn't the railway's fault. Not sure about the dangerous driving charge if this did not happen on a public road, but it sounds like this man is certainly liable and failed to follow safety instructions. No doubt the investigation will look at whether the signs at the crossing were in place and the telephone was in working order. Assuming that was the case then the truck driver must have been to blame.

The only way forward has to be better education for road users. Perhaps this guy always used this crossing and had never encountered a train before. That was thought to be a factor in the Grange over Sands level crossing crash report...

[Dave]

2T27, the 1731 Sudbury - Marks Tey has struck a lorry on Sewage Works Lane UWG twixt Bures and Sudbury. 156417 has derailed. The driver is reported to be amongst those injured.

Ta wayfarer on WNXX Forum.

Apparently NR and the BTP confirmed that the crossing telephone was in working condition, but not used.

Ta Al on WNXX Forum, as per.

[Dave]

Oh and tanker driver has been arrested on suspicion of Dangerous Driving.

[andel]

Not a good day down here, we had theft last night, the tanker today who didn't phone and then a signal black out in Colchester.

The driver is shocked and stunned; needless to say thats as far as I wanna go.

Can all speculation be kept to a minimum please - RAIB will now investigate.

[Ameecher]

Going to leave NXEA up s*** creek again, that'll need quite extensive rebuilding that unit I should think. They're light on units anyway without this. Class 20s on Yarmouth turns again?

Edit: Just seen the actual damage to 156417, pretty extensive would be an accurate description. A good long time spent in the shops at Derby.

[audigex]

Gav, any links to the pictures of 156417?

[John]

Presumably his cab was past the crossing, and the back was full of sewage;

Yeah - its going to cause a right stink!

Going to leave NXEA up s*** creek again,

Pun intended?

Can all speculation be kept to a minimum please - RAIB will now investigate.

If the internet is good at one thing, its is badly informed speculation. Probably gets it off those "experts" they speak to on the news channels...

[Kevo00]

Can all speculation be kept to a minimum please - RAIB will now investigate.

If the internet is good at one thing, its is badly informed speculation. Probably gets it off those "experts" they speak to on the news channels...

Lol...to be fair, its hardly like the RAIB investigation will be unduly influenced by comments made on a speculation such as this.

Note that my post above was very carefully worded to avoid assertion.

[Ameecher]

Gav, any links to the pictures of 156417?

There was a video on the BBC website of the aftermath. Actually the video is now incorporated in the story linked at the top of this thread.

[andel]

The damaged train has gone to Wolverton.

[JamieLei]

The driver of the tanker has been charged.

http://railnews.co.uk/news/general/2010 ... ffolk.html

[ostlandr]

When, when, when will people ever learn? I read the FRA (equivalent to your RAIB) accident reports over here.
"Cause of the accident was determined to be the failure of the driver to obey the railroad crossing signals." A carload of kids- six young lives snuffed out.
"Cause of the accident was determined to be the failure of the driver to determine that the way was clear before proceeding across the (uncontrolled private) crossing." The truck driver survived in that case. The engineer and conductor of the freight locomotive weren't so lucky when their train hit a flatbed trailer loaded with 20 or so tons of steel.
There are pages of these.

I don't work for these guys, but this product could save a LOT of lives: http://www.energyabsorption.com/product ... e_rail.asp

There is a version available that will block vehicles from entering the crossing, but will pass vehicles trying to exit the crossing, so that drivers don't become trapped. Also vehicle detection hardware that will detect a vehicle in the crossing and open the gates; there was one incident where a lady was stopped in traffic on a level crossing (not bright) and when the gates came down she panicked and simply sat there in her car.

[Chris]

People dieing by acting idiotic is just natural selection, however it is unfair if this causes death of the driver of the train or any train passangers.

[JamieLei]

I don't work for these guys, but this product could save a LOT of lives: http://www.energyabsorption.com/product ... e_rail.asp

The biggest problem with level crossing deaths in the UK is on half-barriered and unbarriered crossings anyway. I doubt there'd be much advantage in putting these instead of full-barrier systems already in place.

[ostlandr]

We're just starting to install "full-barrier" crossings here- we call them quadrant gates. These are being installed as part of either "high speed" rail efforts, or as part of "quiet zones." The problem with gated (half-barrier) crossings is the tendency of mental giants to drive around the gates on the wrong side of the road.

Another thought I had is to put mountings for these on locomotives and mount one on the lead unit. That might make a grade crossing accident survivable. Wish I had the money to test this at the Transportation Technology Center in Colorado. http://www.aar.com/

I don't work for these guys, but this product could save a LOT of lives: http://www.energyabsorption.com/product ... e_rail.asp

The biggest problem with level crossing deaths in the UK is on half-barriered and unbarriered crossings anyway. I doubt there'd be much advantage in putting these instead of full-barrier systems already in place.

[beeb375]

What I want to know is - Why is it so expensive to convert half barrier crossings to full? There's no need for them to be collision proof or anything, all we need is something to stop cars weaving around the barriers. Either build a cheap gate system on the other side of the road and hook it into the original wiring, or make some sort of fibreglass attachment that bolts onto the end of existing half barrier gates.

Serious question here.