Return to Archive -by date - by topic - 2001 Archive.
The Health & Safety Executive report into the Hither Green raises new questions
Two Connex Networkers collided outside Hither Green station on 12 March this year. It was little more than a tail end side swipe, in which one passenger was injured.
One of the trains - the 07.58 Sevenoaks to Cannon Street service which was not due to stop - passed signal L296 at danger and ran into the path of the other train, the 08.08 Crayford to Cannon Street which was signalled to leave the station. The driver of the Crayford train saw the SPAD and braked but hit the side of the other train.
According to the HSE report, the driver of the Sevenoaks train had only recently qualified as a train driver after a fifteen-month training programme which had included the usual 225 hours accompanied driving (my italics, plus route learning and various assessment drives. This was the first time he had worked a full shift on his own.
While the driver was greatly shocked and unable to recall much about what happened, the On Train Data Recorders and the signalling system tapes showed that he responded correctly to caution signals approaching Hither Green. But then he accelerated towards L296 at red, passing it at about 40 mph. Amazingly, the HSE report does not say whether he cancelled the AWS before L296 – surely a fundamental piece of information.
Signal L296 is well sited, clearly visible and has not been passed at danger before. The HSE suggests that the driver may have been distracted by a message on the cab radio 90 seconds before the collision. The message did not require the driver to take any action. more/......
From all this, the HSE has concluded that the underlying cause was the driver's inexperience. Really? With 225 hours of accompanied driving? I was so surprised by this figure that I sought confirmation and was told that it is quite usual.
That does seem a long time and one does wonder about the driver's aptitude if he loses concentration and SPAds on his first solo shift after this much experience.
As for the possible distraction caused by the radio message, the HSE suggests that the driver may have been subconsciously misled by the fact that the train was not scheduled to stop at Hither Green and was ‘so busy' considering the radio message that he failed to respond to the signalling.
As a result Railtrack is required to review signallers' instructions on communication with drivers over the cab secure radio while a train is moving, to ensure that messages which may distract drivers are minimised.
Oh come on!. planes into Heathrow at 90 second headways with all the pilots listening to the open band radio with no apparent distraction when I've ‘cabbed it'. If a driver is distracted by a radio message, my view is that he is not receiving enough messages for them to be routine. Listening out to what is going on has an important safety role.
Connex is also urged to ensure that the simulation of ‘out-of-course events' is included in their driver training and assessment programme, preferably on simulator, as soon as possible. Oh come on again. Is a radio message a really an such ‘out of course event' that a driver with a couple of months or so of accompanied driving thinks ‘good grief, what's that' and SPADs?
This one incident raises a number of questions on driver training following on from my article on the forgotten driver (Modern Railways Janhuary 2001).
In which respect, many thanks for all the thoughtful and helpful feedback.