Investigation into two runaway engineering machine incidents, between Brentwood and Romford, Essex, on 4 November 2007, and at Snow Hill, Birmingham, on 31 October 2007
The RAIB is carrying out an investigation into two incidents involving the runaway of road rail engineering machines. In one, on 4 November 2007, a machine ran away from Brentwood to Romford; in the other, near Snow Hill station Birmingham on 31 October 2007, a machine ran away and collided with another which was stationary.
In the Brentwood incident, between 09.30 hrs and 10.00 hrs engineering staff were placing a road rail machine, a mobile elevating working platform, onto the track at Brentwood to use in an engineering possession. When the machine was placed on the track, it immediately ran away towards London, travelling a total of some seven miles before being stopped west of Romford. The operator of the machine jumped from it at Gidea Park, and received minor injuries, but otherwise no-one was injured, and there was no physical damage. The machine came to rest on the down Electric Line near Romford, and that line was closed until the evening of 4 November whilst investigations took place.
In the Birmingham incident, at around 03:15 hrs a mobile elevating work platform (of a different design to that used at Brentwood) was being removed from the track at Livery Street near Snow Hill station in Birmingham; it had been used for the examination of lineside structures in the area. As the machine was being removed from the track it ran away toward another mobile elevating work platform which was parked 10m from it. There were persons on both machines when the runaway started; one person was unable to dismount before the collision occurred. There were no injuries, but one of the machines was damaged.
The RAIB’s initial examinations indicate that the maintenance condition of the road rail machines did not contribute to the incident.
The RAIB's investigation into the incident is proceeding independently of any parallel investigations by the safety authority.
The RAIB will publish a report, including any recommendations to improve safety, at the conclusion of its investigation. This report will be available on the RAIB website.
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