Report 33/2007: Collision at Copmanthorpe
Collision between a Super Voyager train and a car on the line at Copmanthorpe, 25 September 2006.
On 25 September 2006 a Virgin train service from Plymouth to Edinburgh was travelling at approximately 100 mph when it struck a car on the site of a former level crossing at Copmanthorpe, south of York. The car driver was fatally injured in the collision. Although three axles of the train derailed, the train remained upright and there were no injuries on board.
The immediate cause of the incident was the car entering onto the railway through a fenced boundary. It has not been possible to establish why the car carried on past the end of the road and onto the railway. A possible contributing factor was the lack of a risk assessment into vehicle incursion on to the railway at that point.
RAIB has made no recommendations in relation to the cause of the accident. It has made two recommendations aimed at:
- assessing cul-de-sacs adjacent to Network Rail’s system
- protecting the underside of trains from damage after collisions.
Response to recommendations:
- RAIB will periodically update the status of recommendations as reported to us by the relevant safety authority or public body.
- RAIB may add comment, particularly if we have concerns regarding these responses.