Severn Tunnel Junction 1985: Train strikes and kills four
Forty years on, RSSB’s Kevin Thompson looks back to the tragic death of four track workers who were struck by a train during a morning shift.
Six trackworkers were engaged in snow clearing at a set of points to the west of Severn Tunnel Junction on the morning of Monday 11 February 1985. It was dark, cold, and windy. Five centimetres of snow lay on the ground, and some was drifting onto the points due to the strong winds.
At 00.50, four trackworkers were struck and killed by a DMU travelling at 50 mph. The other two were uninjured. They had been engaged over the weekend in snow clearing duties, working 12-hour shifts. No official lookout was appointed. They did not have any lookout equipment, only a man carrying a Bardic signalling lamp.
It was assumed that he was looking out for the group. The man holding the lamp was actually providing light to the trackworkers clearing snow. Two were on the right-hand switch blade and two were on the left-hand switchblade. All were wearing high-vis vests.
Prior to the incident, the team had taken a break at a local public house where ‘three rounds of drink were consumed’. Their blood alcohol content at post-mortem was found to be over today’s legal limit for driving. The impact of the alcohol may have had an impact on their perception of risk, but this is only conjecture. All had been trained and had passed a skill test for undertaking lookout duties.
The cause of the accident, as recorded by the coroner, was a failure to appoint a lookout for the protection of the trackworkers. None of the team questioned the team leader as to why there was no lookout protection. Rule Book arrangements comprising a ‘between trains’ system or complete signal protection could have been provided if the team had liaised with the signaller at Newport.
It was identified that high-visibility vests were of little use during darkness as they were not seen by the train driver until the last second. Use of reflective high-visibility vests were recommended along with portable free standing ground lighting to illuminate the site of work during the hours of darkness.
The DMU only had marker lights. A programme of fitting headlights to certain traction units was under way and it was recommended that this is urgently extended to all prime movers so that all trains had the same level of illumination.
It was proposed that lookout protection for working on lines open to traffic during the hours of darkness should be made compulsory. Since then, we have eradicated work dependent on lookout protection.
Image caption: Severn Tunnel Junction in 1987: 45046 heads east out of the sidings with a freight train.
Search ‘Severn Tunnel Junction’ on the Railways Archive to read the full report.
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