My understanding from the BBC report is that both trains were running at linespeed - 100 km/h - which seems inconsistent with one of them being under "drive on sight" regulations. Is this correct?
I think we can discount the idea they were both running at line speed.
Although very bad, that crash didn't look like they were both doing 60mph to me. AFAIK only the 1st coach of each train derailed, if they'd been at line speed I would have expected most of the coaches to be off the road.
I saw somewhere a "leaked" report that one of the black boxes said 40kph.
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Echoes of Quintinshill with signallers ignoring the rules, then overlooked the presence of another train.
Another possible similarity is shift changeover time.
The accident occurred at 06.45 just when you would imagine the shift changing and 2 people in the box. This is well documented as a dangerous time in many occupations not just railways.
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Echoes of Quintinshill with signallers ignoring the rules, then overlooked the presence of another train.
In the harsh light of investigation it seems incredulous that a professional, well trained, qualified person in a safety critical role can simply "forget" something, especially something as big as a train. However, there have been many accidents caused by this very thing, the signalman convincing himself that the situation is not as it really is, thankfully getting fewer and fewer as technology is introduced to mitigate human failings.
Not just in the rail industry either, instances of pilots shutting down the wrong engine, flying into mountains because they thought the instruments were wrong, etc etc.