Train Derailment at Penryn on Falmouth Branch (28/01)

[SC43090]

Understand that the rail service between Truro & Falmouth Docks as been suspended for the rest of the day due to a train derailment at Penryn a class 150/2 as derailed.. All emergency services are at the scene......

www.piratefm.co.uk

Trains between Truro and Falmouth have been cancelled after a 'derailment'.
Officials say it happened at Penryn on Monday lunchtime and all lines are blocked.

It means there will be no services on the branch line for rest of the day.

Pirate FM understands police, firefighters and paramedics are all at the scene...

 

[Highlandspring]

One bogie off, no injuries.

 

[pdeaves]

Fortunately, one door was still at the platform, allowing relatively easy evacuation.

 

[Puppetfinger]

150234 the affected unit. Picture and local press story here;

https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/17389855.train-derails-at-penryn-all-services-cancelled/

A train has derailed at Penryn Station leading to cancellations for the rest of the day.

• The incident occurred this lunchtime, blocking all lines.
• It has been described as a 'low speed derailment' by National Rail.
• The company said: "Trains are unable to run between Truro and Falmouth Docks. This is expected to continue until the end of the day."

Eyewitness Matthew May, who was waiting for the Truro to Falmouth service, said the stricken train made a "loud rumble" as it pulled into the station, before he noticed that the front carriage was sliding across the track...

 

[philthetube]

As far as local press reporting goes, I have seen a lot worse.

 

[Esker-pades]

Could the OP update the thread title so it's slightly more specific?

 

[saxsux]

Surprising to see that GWR are still only able to run a reduced service (hourly rather than the usual half hourly): https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/live-network-updates

Penryn station is a passing loop on the otherwise single-track branch line. So the fact that services are running only hourly suggests the points are still out of use - perhaps the derailment caused quite a bit of damage.

 

[PHILIPE]

Surprising to see that GWR are still only able to run a reduced service (hourly rather than the usual half hourly): https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/live-network-updates

Penryn station is a passing loop on the otherwise single-track branch line. So the fact that services are running only hourly suggests the points are still out of use - perhaps the derailment caused quite a bit of damage.

That's the obvious conclusion. If there is a lot of work elsewhere that requires carrying out, a Branch Line would, I'm sure, take a lower priority. Also, there has been some atrocious weather in Cornwall this week

 

[83G/84D]

I am not going to comment much about this as investigations are ongoing however the obvious conclusion is not the correct one in some cases.

 

[JN114]

The points remain out of use as investigations continue.

 

[RichT54]

RAIB has today released its safety digest into the derailment at Penryn, 28 January 2019.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...er-train-derailment-at-penryn-28-january-2019

Signalling failure investigation was also carried out on the electrical cables and the point machine at Penryn. These tests found very low insulation resistance values between some of the cable cores, and in the points motor itself.

Network Rail’s technical investigation was still in progress at the time of publication of this digest. Initial indications are that the points machine was energised, and consequently moved the points, when no command was present, although the testers were unable to recreate conditions that may have led to this. The faults that were found were not associated with the indication circuits to Truro signal box.

 

[theageofthetra]

RAIB has today released its safety digest into the derailment at Penryn, 28 January 2019.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...er-train-derailment-at-penryn-28-january-2019

I like the way that the driver appears to be getting some blame for being 1mph over whilst relying on a 30 + year old analogue speedo that most likely won't even be accurate to that level

 

[Dieseldriver]

I like the way that the driver appears to be getting some blame for being 1mph over whilst relying on a 30 + year old analogue speedo that most likely won't even be accurate to that level

The rulebook instructions actually state that you should check the points are set correctly for your movement 'where possible' . I never approach points at 15mph during degraded working as I don't believe it's slow enough to comply with my responsibilities of actually checking them. Once I can clearly see they are set correctly for my movement, I then build the speed up to 15mph as the rest of my train passes over them. This is not hammered home enough on rules courses and is a massive reason why these incidents occur. I would say there is actually less of an issue with the Driver doing 16mph instead of 15mph and more of an issue that they did not check the position of the points before passing over them.

 

[theageofthetra]

The rulebook instructions actually state that you should check the points are set correctly for your movement 'where possible' . I never approach points at 15mph during degraded working as I don't believe it's slow enough to comply with my responsibilities of actually checking them. Once I can clearly see they are set correctly for my movement, I then build the speed up to 15mph as the rest of my train passes over them. This is not hammered home enough on rules courses and is a massive reason why these incidents occur. I would say there is actually less of an issue with the Driver doing 16mph instead of 15mph and more of an issue that they did not check the position of the points before passing over them.

Yes that's a good point, however in darkness (which I know isn't the case here) that's going to be very difficult unless you stop and get down to make a full inspection., which in third rail land could be risky & may require a line block in some areas.

 

[John Webb]

Yes that's a good point, however in darkness (which I know isn't the case here) that's going to be very difficult unless you stop and get down to make a full inspection., which in third rail land could be risky & may require a line block in some areas.

With modern units having powerful forward lighting these days, does this assist in such circumstances? IE slow approach until you can see the points in the headlight(s) and then stop or continue as required.

 

[Dieseldriver]

Yes that's a good point, however in darkness (which I know isn't the case here) that's going to be very difficult unless you stop and get down to make a full inspection., which in third rail land could be risky & may require a line block in some areas.

I agree, however, if it's in darkness and I need to stop the train to check the points are set correctly then stop the train I will to comply with the rules (and I have done this). I can't think of a time when I would have needed to physically leave the cab to check points to be honest. It's fair to say that 99.9% of the time it is possible to check the condition of the points before passing over them, however, not necessarily at 15mph as that would be too fast to properly check or, too fast to come to a stand before them if I noticed they were set incorrectly.

 

[Dieseldriver]

With modern units having powerful forward lighting these days, does this assist in such circumstances? IE slow approach until you can see the points in the headlight(s) and then stop or continue as required.

Yes it is definitely easier with modern headlights to do this and I have never had any issues checking points with a modern headlight.

 

[edwin_m]

Although the points were in mid-position in this incident, it's also possible that they might be close to the correct setting but not close enough to guarantee no risk of derailment. To get detection the gap has to be less than a couple of millimetres, but if it was say 10mm it would be difficult to see from a cab but still a derailment risk.