Rail workers came seconds from being crushed by a London passenger train after an error in safety plans. Three experienced railway workers were nearly struck by a train in a tunnel on the approach to Bookham station in Surrey on April 29 last year.
Near-miss incident details
Unknowingly, the trio ended up walking in a different direction where trains had been blocked, and they were almost hit by a train travelling at 33mph. Their mistake also went unnoticed by the signaller, who had given the go-ahead for the line blockage, according to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB).
The South Western Railway train was travelling from London Waterloo to Guildford and slowing down for Bookham station when the driver saw the track workers shortly before 11am. The driver sounded the warning horn, and the workers saw the approaching train, but they had only seconds to react after becoming aware of the danger.
Witness evidence indicates that due to the track curvature and because the train approached the group from behind, the track workers only had seconds to react when they became aware of the train, the report found. Two of the workers managed to move into the refuge alcove, while the third person squeezed against the tunnel wall as the train passed.
Space in the tunnel between the wall and the nearest rail is deemed insufficient to provide a position of safety, the watchdog said. One of the workers standing against the wall was around 39 inches from the side of the SWR train.
Safety plan error
The trio, who have more than 90 years of experience working on the railways between them, reported what had happened after exiting the tunnel. The RAIB, which investigated the near-miss, ruled that the confusion was possible because the safety details for the job contained incorrect line information for another nearby tunnel, not the one the team were working in.
The watchdog said: 'The error in the safe work pack had been introduced during the planning stage for the work and went unnoticed, despite the pack being checked multiple times during various stages of the safe work process.'
Andrew Hall, the chief inspector of rail accidents with the watchdog, said: 'The move away from unassisted lookout protection on the railway has made track work statistically safer, and that is welcome. However, our investigation into this near miss illustrates how safety is now heavily dependent on every worker having an accurate understanding of which lines are blocked, the timing of the block and where the safe working boundaries lie.'
'Bookham Tunnel is one of a number of near misses that serve as a warning. Safety theory and bitter experience both tell us that a pattern of near misses will eventually end in tragedy, and that is what happened in Hertfordshire in March this year, where a track worker was struck and sadly lost their life. I know that work continues to try and reduce this risk further. Recent events show how urgent and important such work is.'
