The accident happened on 2 May 2021 when two road-rail vehicles collided while travelling on the same track towards Wickford station from a location of work near Ramsden Bellhouse, Essex.
Network Rail’s principal contractor – J Murphy & Sons was working on overhead lines whilst the accident victims were working for a subcontractor SPL Powerlines UK. The leading Mobile Elevating Work Platform (MEWP) was actually stationery at the time of collision but was hit from behind by a road-rail machine which was configured as a crane. It was around 10 seconds before the collision that the MEWP operator had stopped to stow away a tool which was loose in the personnel basked of his machine. However, about the same time the crane operator became dazzled by the rising sun he turned to look out of the side window to relieve his eyes, but tragically did not apply the brakes. This resulted in the road-rail crane vehicle colliding into the back of the MEWP. It was also noted that before the collision the crane operator had reduced the gap between the crane and the MEWP. So that when the MEWP stopped it was only about 30 metres, far less than Network Rail standards require which is a minimum of 100 metres.
The Report also noted that fatigue was possibly another contributing factor as the crane driver had not taken advantage of a rest before his night shift at a hotel provided by his employers. Strikingly the crane driver had also not even declared his actual travel time when providing his journey details at the site’s access control points. Indeed, a similar collision occurred at Wellingborough on 15th August 2019.
Unfortunately, the operator of the Mobile Elevating Work Platform suffered life-changing injuries due to the crash.
Andrew Hall, Chief Inspector of Rail Accidents said: “Sadly, this readily-avoided accident led to a member of railway staff sustaining life changing injuries.
“Bright sunlight can temporarily dazzle or obscure vision. It is important that those driving vehicles by line of sight, slow sufficiently or stop if visibility becomes poor. Even momentary dazzling can lead to an unsafe situation rapidly developing.
“When operating rail-road machines on the railway it is essential to maintain the defined safe distance of 100 metres with other moving vehicles. This accident involved differential speeds dangerously reducing the distance between the vehicles from 90 metres to approximately 30 metres during the journey.
“Recognising the true distances involved, as well as the potential consequence of road-rail vehicles travelling in convoy at different speeds, is vital to maintaining safe distances between vehicles.
“What is particularly frustrating about this accident, is that lessons from a previous accident involving the same contractor had not been learned.
“Both accidents shared similar factors including a lack of adequate separation between vehicles, a loss of attention and avoiding action not being taken.
“Not applying these lessons to improve planning of work or the site assurance processes was an opportunity missed to avoid a collision with severe consequences.”