My interest in transport safety is based on working 21 years on the UK railways, of which 10 years as train driver. After the Ladbroke Grove collision on 05-10-1999 I met and was honoured to co-operate with Stanley Hall, publishing articles and books on aspects of rail safety such as ATP and level crossings. After … Continue reading An Unexpected End to the Journey
Save the Date: Boekpresentatie 18 januari 2020, NVBS Centraal
An Unexpected End to the Journey Op zaterdag 18 januari 2020 presenteert auteur en oud-machinist (1992-2002) Peter van der Mark zijn boek “An Unexpected End to the Journey” in NVBS Centraal. In zijn presentatie gaat hij in op wereldwijde ongelukken op en rondom het spoor. Bovendien vertelt hij over zijn ervaringen als machinist bij British Rail … Continue reading Save the Date: Boekpresentatie 18 januari 2020, NVBS Centraal
For the rest: Read the Book
Index and literature. Index of accident locations named in alphabetic order. Bold printedlocation names are discussed in their own chapter or section. Others are mentioned within chapters as references. Aitrang, Germany 09-02-1971 Overspeed derailment. Amagasaki, Japan 25-05-2005 Overspeed derailment. Amersfoort, The Netherlands 05-12-1996 Sickness, bufferstop collision. Armi Tunnel(Balvano), Italy 02-03-1944 Carbon monoxide poisoning. Arnhem, The Netherlands 22-11-2004 Chemicals release. Ashtabula, Ohio, USA 29-12-1876 Bridge failure, collapse, fire. Åsta, … Continue reading For the rest: Read the Book
Literature
As already indicated, for most accidents the official investigation reports, either published as hardcopies or available as PDF files on the Internet, were important sources of information, whilst extensive Internet information (notably via Wikipedia with its links to further sources such as the official accident reports), articles in a variety of foreign railway magazines (the … Continue reading Literature
Ladbroke Grove, an example
Let me demonstrate the above with the example of the Ladbroke Groveaccident on my patch of track close to London Paddington one early October morning in 1999. In local railway circles the signalling from Paddington to Ladbroke Grove junction was known to be risky, some signals in the area had a particularly bad SPAD record, and … Continue reading Ladbroke Grove, an example
Fires
Following any other type of accident, in the days of the wooden coaches there was the additional risk of fire started by scattered burning coal from the steam locomotive firebox, from the stove in North American and CIWL vehicles or from sparking electric equipment, which was then often fuelled by escaping coal gas for the … Continue reading Fires
What Can You See in Illustrations of Train Crashes?
When looking at pictures of a crash often a number of issues about the behaviour of rolling stock in crash conditions can be identified. Rolling stock behaves very often in quite recognisable manners during a crash, indicating what occurred to the vehicles. Complete destruction, concertina-ing or jack-knifing, telescoping, climbing on top of each other or … Continue reading What Can You See in Illustrations of Train Crashes?
Brake Failures
.Train brakes, especially the traditional type of air or vacuum brakes, need air pressure or vacuum power to be kept released, as in normal working order brake application is their default mode. On top of which, through well nigh a century of widespread use, this automatic train brake equipment has proven reliable if kept properly … Continue reading Brake Failures
Initial Conclusions from Rail Accidents
When a train crash occurs, some of the observations published in the media may already give an idea what actually occurred. Head-on, rear-end and sideswipe collisions: In most cases, bar serious signalling or train equipment failure as at Wychenin The Netherlands or at Clapham JunctionUK, the crash results from one of the trains being involved in a … Continue reading Initial Conclusions from Rail Accidents
The Root Cause Categories.
Many are the categories one could use to group certain types of accidents. To me there are but three main root-cause categories: Those caused by railway staff, usually gathered under the heading Human Error.Those that occurred to railway staff and the people or goods on the train they occupied, usually called Equipment FailureorMalicious intentions or erroneous behaviour … Continue reading The Root Cause Categories.
The Type of Train.
There is a line of thought that states that automatic couplers will hold a derailing or colliding train better in line than the old type of buffers and screw couplers as used in Europe. Having read many reports about and seen many photographs of all types of different accidents in Europe and North America I … Continue reading The Type of Train.
An Unexpected End to the Journey 