Probably not appropriate for me to comment any further, but regardless rules were broken.
There's
still a fair amount of internal politics about the Cowden incident, so I can understand that.
Opinions certainly remain divided both about the report and about who was to blame.
True, I'm just saying it is feasible. I've been in an 800's cab with 6 in and it didn't feel cramped.
There are certain TOCs with rules which dictate that anything above 4 people in the cab would require special authorisation.
Can we please not forget that the basic cause of the Cowden accident was BR pennypinching by singling the line between Ashurst and Edenbridge. If the line hadn't been singled, then the accident would never have happened, SPAD or not.
It's entirely possible that a SPAD could have had horrific consequences elsewhere. There are several signals on the Oxted Lines which could lead to a major collision if a SPAD occurred at any speed, especially if TPWS equipment wasn't working for any reason.
To be fair, singling a line isn't in itself dangerous - there have been many single lines for many years.
I can't remember whether the Uckfield line had catchpoints at the time, but lack of these would have been a more effective focus of blame.
The Uckfield Line does not have trap or catch points.
Even cab radios, which I believe were mandated after Clapham, but implementation stopped, would have prevented the accident. The signaller had even contacted the emergency services to warn them there was likely to be a crash, he just didn't know where.
This is of course off topic though and whether an authorised person was driving at Cowden or not the safety systems have changed considerably since then so the risks of that sort of thing causing an accident are significantly less.
In this case it appears there was a driver driving but possibly not qualified for the train or route.
Cab radios won't always prevent crashes. There have been plenty of stories around the country of people pushing big red buttons (the GSM-R emergency group call) and other services carrying on flying past without a care in the world. Or the wrong areas being stopped. And in one instance of which I am aware, a driver struck something on a route which is fairly near the line through Cowden (though not actually on that line). The driver who made the call was inexplicably cut off from the voice comms, the signaller deemed there not to be an emergency and instructed all drivers that the emergency call was finished. The situation was only resolved by the driver making a second emergency call and holding down the push-to-talk button so that nobody could say anything.
In other scenarios, perhaps the other way round (which is more pertinent), there have been issues where drivers have not responded to emergency calls made by signallers and the signallers have been unable to ascertain if they have been able to get trains stopped. I am aware of one such incident very recently on an Uckfield Line service. Luckily the driver did get the message, but the two-way comms were non-existent.
Regarding Cowden, as it has come up, my understanding is that the station stop was (and I believe still is) between the starting signal (controlling access to the single line) and its distant signal - i.e. the train could and did start, accelerate and then approach a signal without any warning that it was at danger: and I believe that this was a significant factor leading to the accident.
The signalling is still arranged as such.
There are mitigations now, including mandatory use of the DRA (Driver's Reminder Appliance) on the Up Uckfield Line during station calls at Ashurst if the preceding distant was showing a single yellow. The signal sighting is also quite good for the main OD58 signal - the two-aspect red/green signal which protects Blackham Junction, which is the one just north of Ashurst, controlling access onto the single line. Even in mist or snow, the signal has a habit of being quite visible from a reasonable distance. There are also SPAD Indicators at all junctions between Uckfield and Edenbridge Town.
An important distinction as well - said OD58 signal is not regarded as a starter signal in the dispatch sense. "Up" Trains will always draw forward from Ashurst station to Blackham Junction, unless instructed by the TOC controllers to remain in the platform, which would only occur during service disruption. It is my opinion that it would be more sensible to
always hold trains in the station platform if OD58 is at danger, perhaps by use of a banner repeater, or it may be best to consider relocating OD58, but there would be a performance impact of sorts.
It would be even better to redouble the line up to Cowden, where the second platform could be refurbished with comparatively little effort, and have a shorter single line section north of there, which would also minimise reactionary delays from late-running southbound trains on the single line (but also prevent the undoubtedly higher cost of redoubling through Mark Beech Tunnel). You could just fit a set of points between the platforms and the tunnel, which could be protected by starter signals on the platforms and TPWS grids.
