Southall rail crash

Southall rail crash

The remains of Coach G of the High Speed Train
Date	19 September 1997
Time	13:20
Location	Southall
Country	England
Rail line	Great Western Main Line
Operator	Great Western Trains (IC125), English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS) (Freight Train)
Cause	Signal passed at danger
Statistics
Trains	2
Passengers	212
Deaths	7
Injuries	139
List of UK rail accidents by year

The Southall rail crash was an accident on the British railway system that occurred on 19 September 1997, on the Great Western Main Line at Southall, west London, in which an InterCity 125 (also called a High Speed Train) failed to stop at a red (danger) signal and collided with a freight train crossing its path. The incident resulted in 7 deaths and 139 injuries. Great Western Trains were fined £1.5 million for violations of health and safety law in connection with the accident.

The crash occurred after the 10:32 Great Western Trains HST passenger train from Swansea to London Paddington, worked by power cars 43173 + 43163 and operating with the Automatic Warning System (AWS) isolated, passed a red (danger) signal (SPAD), preceded by two cautionary signals.

As the tracks straightened ahead of the HST train, the driver observed a Class 59 locomotive a mile in distance, moving "at a funny angle" and realised to his horror that it was crossing the Up Main line. The EWS-operated freight train was coming from London on the Down Relief line, hauling twenty empty bogie hopper wagons, and permitted to cross Southall East Junction on its way into Southall Yard, south of the main lines. A collision was now inevitable. The HST was travelling at 125 miles per hour (201 km/h), and could not stop in time even under emergency braking.

Alan Bricker, the driver of the freight locomotive No. 59101, observed the approaching HST and expected it to stop, but was alarmed at its speed and apparent brake application. In desperation, he tried to accelerate his train out of the path of the HST, but to no avail. The later accident report found that:

Six people were killed, and a seventh passenger died in hospital.

If the AWS equipment on the High Speed Train (HST) passenger train had been working, the chance of the accident occurring would have been highly unlikely, though not completely eliminated, since the AWS is only an advisory system. The driver's attention had been distracted and he did not see the preceding signals, but AWS would have given him a clear audible warning that the signals were displaying cautionary aspects and that he should start braking. Failure to acknowledge this warning would have caused the emergency brake to be applied. Automatic Train Protection (ATP) equipment would have almost certainly prevented the accident. The train was fitted with ATP but this was switched off. At the time of the accident, the ATP equipment was not required to be switched on, as it had proved troublesome in service. In addition, not all drivers were qualified to use it.