Near miss at Leighton Buzzard 16th June 2020

Islineclear3_1 · 6 Aug 2020

Sorry if this has been posted before, but I couldn't find using the Search function

RAIB have published their safety digest:

https://www.gov.uk/raib-reports/saf...ign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

On Tuesday 16 June 2020, two track workers were undertaking a survey of the trackside vegetation on the west coast main line between Cheddington and Bletchleystations.

At 16:28 hrs the driver of a northbound train passing Leighton Buzzard station at 125 mph (200 km/h) observed a person standing next to the line in a place where theclearance was limited by the structure of an overbridge. The driver sounded the train’s horn and observed the person move swiftly out of the way, but not to a defined position of safety, around one second before the train reached him.

RailUK Forums

eMeS · 6 Aug 2020

Thanks for the link. Much too close for comfort...

Statto · 6 Aug 2020

BBC article on it, absolutely crazy thing to do & without permission from NR.

Network Rail had been carrying out a tendering process for vegetation management in the area.

Contractor MECX Group Ltd had wanted to use trackside photographs in its bid.

However, Network Rail had been unable to supply them and decided not to allow the contractor to undertake a track walk to take the photos themselves.

Despite this, MECX made arrangements for the work to be done between 16 and 19 June.

The RAIB said MECX "was not able to explain why the work had been approved without Network Rail's knowledge or sanction".

Leighton Buzzard track worker avoids 125mph train by 'a second'

He had been taking photographs beside the track without Network Rail's knowledge, a report finds.

www.bbc.co.uk

507 001 · 6 Aug 2020

I posted in another thread that I’d noticed a lot of trackside staff were becoming more lax. Funnily enough, MECX are a contractor I’m very familiar with...

jfowkes · 6 Aug 2020

This is probably a stupid question but is the CCTV from passing trains of insufficient quality to help with working out a vegetation management bid?

Taunton · 6 Aug 2020

Doesn't (or can't) the New Measurement Train take high quality videos of the trackside as it runs everywhere every 4 weeks? Would have thought those would be a great help to many engineers if indexed and put on an accessible website.

Setting aside the complete abuse of regulations by the contractor, with my commercial hat on, it seems unreasonable that Network Rail were looking for fixed price quotations from contractors for vegetation clearance, but did not have any detail of how impinging the vegetation was, nor would they let contractors bidding for the work go and look for themselves in order to quote (or even, possibly, to determine what plant to take). Sounds like the ops side and the commercial contracts side need a bit more co-ordination.

edwin_m · 6 Aug 2020

jfowkes said:
This is probably a stupid question but is the CCTV from passing trains of insufficient quality to help with working out a vegetation management bid?

It's probably cheaper and easier to send someone out with a camera than to have a busy senior manager spending time trying to find the right person in Avanti or LNW to obtain FFCCTV, getting it agreed and waiting for it to arrive (then probably finding it's too poor quality or doesn't show the exact things you need). Or at least that might be the view of a busy senior manager of a company whose main business is sending people out onto the railway.

jfowkes · 6 Aug 2020

edwin_m said:
It's probably cheaper and easier to send someone out with a camera than to have a busy senior manager spending time trying to find the right person in Avanti or LNW to obtain FFCCTV, getting it agreed and waiting for it to arrive (then probably finding it's too poor quality or doesn't show the exact things you need). Or at least that might be the view of a busy senior manager of a company whose main business is sending people out onto the railway.

Yeah I thought something that might be the answer. Cheaper, easier but obviously not safer.

It's weird - often here we complain about H&S over-reach increasing costs and delays.

2HAP · 6 Aug 2020

As the track workers were there without permission from Network Rail, weren't they trespassing? If so, should they have been dealt with as such?

Statto · 7 Aug 2020

2HAP said:
As the track workers were there without permission from Network Rail, weren't they trespassing? If so, should they have been dealt with as such?

On the other hand the track workers would not have been on the track had it not been for the company ignoring NRs order, not allowing the company to take trackside photos, the company should be taken to task here.

LNW-GW Joint · 7 Aug 2020

jfowkes said:
Yeah I thought something that might be the answer. Cheaper, easier but obviously not safer.
It's weird - often here we complain about H&S over-reach increasing costs and delays.

Sounds like a good job for the Network Rail drone, like they have used for bridge inspections?

Elecman · 7 Aug 2020

Statto said:
On the other hand the track workers would not have been on the track had it not been for the company ignoring NRs order, not allowing the company to take trackside photos, the company should be taken to task here.

They have been!!

jfowkes · 7 Aug 2020

2HAP said:
As the track workers were there without permission from Network Rail, weren't they trespassing? If so, should they have been dealt with as such?

This incident would/could have occurred with or without them having permission though, yes?

There's actually two separate incidents.

1. The failure of the system which meant the work was undertaken without permission.
2. The barely avoided collision.

2HAP · 7 Aug 2020

AIUI, the track workers were not there with NR permission. NR had actually forbidden an on track inspection. The question remains, from a legal point of view as to whether or not they were in exactly the same legal position as if two members of Joe Public had been there. If that is the case, should NR have prosecuted for trespass?

eldomtom2 · 7 Aug 2020

I do not think it unreasonable to say that employees of contractors should be able to expect that their employers have everything worked out with the contractee and that they are not being sent somewhere they do not have legal access to.

Mitchell Hurd · 7 Aug 2020

I think I read or heard about this - thank goodness nothing worse was by seconds avoided!

Near miss at Leighton Buzzard 16th June 2020

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