The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has released its report today into the broken rails at Urchfont and Kennington following the passage of a freight train on 5 January 2006.
The full report is available here:
A summary of the key points from the report is included below:
Summary
On Thursday 5 January 2006 a freight train left Meldon Quarry in Devon, bound for Hinksey yard near Oxford. Track circuit failures occurred separately at Urchfont and Kennington, in each case shortly after the freight train passed by. An examination of the line revealed one broken rail at Urchfont and two at Kennington. One of the freight wagons was subsequently found to have severe wheel flats.
The immediate cause of the broken rails was mechanical overload resulting from the impact of the damaged wheel on the rails. There were three causal factors. The underlying cause of the incident was a lack of information sharing between different parties involved, leading to no collective assessment of the risk from the flats and no mitigation.
Recommendations
The RAIB has made six recommendations as a result of its investigation, designed to reduce the risk of wheel flats occurring on the line and to improve detection of these faults.
Notes to Editors
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch started operation on 17 October 2005. The sole purpose of RAIB investigations is to prevent future accidents and incidents and improve railway safety. The RAIB does not establish blame, liability or carry out prosecutions.
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Newsdate: 20 December 2006
