Report 11/2016: Freight train derailment near Langworth
RAIB has today released its report into a freight train derailment near Langworth, Lincolnshire, 30 June 2015.
Image showing derailment near Langworth
Summary
At about 14:15 hrs on 30 June 2015, a freight train, conveying 22 empty diesel fuel tank wagons, derailed on a track buckle near Langworth, Lincolnshire. The locomotive and the first ten wagons successfully ran over the buckle before the eleventh and the following nine wagons derailed. Four of these wagons overturned and one came to rest across the adjacent track. No-one was injured and there was no diesel fuel spillage. Extensive damage was caused to the train and to the infrastructure.
The investigation found that the track buckled on the hottest day of the year to date because the forces in the rails resulting from thermal expansion exceeded the ability of the ballast to restrain the track. The buckle started at a point where there was an existing misalignment in the track; a feature which reduced its resistance to buckling. The buckle increased under the train because its permitted speed was too fast for the vulnerable condition of the track and the rail temperature on the day.
Underlying the accident was a lack of appreciation of the vulnerability of the track to buckling. The under-resourcing of the maintenance team, leading to the continual reprioritisation of maintenance tasks, was also a possible underlying factor.
Recommendations
As a consequence of this investigation, RAIB has made four recommendations to Network Rail. The first is to enable improved assessments of the vulnerability of track to buckling on the basis of more accurate data about its ability to withstand thermal expansion. The second is to ensure a more consistent interpretation of risk factors is included in the calculation of rail temperatures at which mitigation measures, such as speed restrictions, should be applied. Two further recommendations relate to local resourcing for track maintenance and managerial oversight of the process of reprioritising or cancelling maintenance tasks.
The report has also identified two learning points. The first reinforces the importance of completing records of maintenance interventions that could affect the buckling strength of the rail and investigating any anomalous behaviour of the rail during those interventions. The second relates to checking the security of bolts on a type of switch assembly.
Notes to editors
- The sole purpose of RAIB investigations is to prevent future accidents and incidents and improve railway safety. RAIB does not establish blame, liability or carry out prosecutions.
- RAIB operates, as far as possible, in an open and transparent manner. While our investigations are completely independent of the railway industry, we do maintain close liaison with railway companies and if we discover matters that may affect the safety of the railway, we make sure that information about them is circulated to the right people as soon as possible, and certainly long before publication of our final report.
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