Top stories in this issue
• Road risk
• Remembering Cowden 1994
• RAIB brief – Spital Junction
Letter from the editor
By the time you’re reading this, the 25th anniversary of the Ladbroke Grove accident will have passed.
I always encourage Right Track readers to remember and reflect on past incidents. They explain why rail is run the way it is today. They help add competence–and confidence–to compliance.
There’s a famous quote that sums up learning from the past. And it’s well worth thinking about: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’
In an industry like rail, where people retire, move on or move in from elsewhere, any lessons learnt can be easier to forget than you might think.
The lessons from Ladbroke Grove involved many elements: driver competence and training, signal sighting, and train protection. There was an element of route knowledge, too, which is why in this issue RSSB’s Joe Wilson discusses this important weapon in the driver’s arsenal.
Elsewhere, RSSB’s Tom Waghorn describes the Cowden accident of 1994, and how—like Ladbroke Grove—it underscores the importance of human factors in rail ops. In a similar vein, we look more deeply into the world of risk-triggered commentary, a technique that could have saved lives on the morning of 5 October 1999. We also spotlight RED 70, which focuses on safety critical communications, and highlight coming changes to the Rule Book app.
Right Track isn’t complete without an interview. This time we catch up with Cat O’Brien, Chair of Network Rail’s bereavement support group. She describes her own loss and how it spurred her to try to help people in the same position.
Watch out!RSSB research: what we’ve found out about smart watch use in the driver’s cab.
10 minutes with…We talk managing bereavement with Network Rail’s Safety Improvement Specialist.
Making that callSafety critical communications is a contributing factor to one-in-five accidents. How do we get it right? And what happens when we don't?
App upgrade: how aptThe Rule Book app has been upgraded, improving usability and accessibility.
Natural obstaclesFreight train driver: ‘I was pleased to see my training kick in when I struck a tree one early foggy morning.’
Back seat driversWhat steps we can take to protect ourselves and others from road risk in rail?
NewswireYour quarterly round-up of overseas rail accidents and incidents between July and September 2024.
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