A collision between a train and a sewage lorry in Suffolk has left 21 people injured.
An immediate rescue operation went into effect following a crash at a Suffolk level crossing on 17 August, which left a 58-year-old man with life-threatening injuries.
The 1731 National Express East Anglia service, a two-carriage diesel passenger train, was travelling between Sudbury and Marks Tey when it struck a large sewage tanker at an unmanned level crossing near Sudbury. The line is expected to be closed for several days.
Following the collision, the train involved remained upright, but the first carriage derailed.
Diana Lucas, a spokeswoman for the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), said engineers have worked tirelessly with roadway officials to improve safety at level crossings and tested ideas such as new types of reflective materials for trains. However, she added that many such accidents are due to carelessness from motorists and pedestrians.
‘We’re trying to improve level crossings as an interface and improve the safety, but there are only so many things that we can do,’ said Lucas.
According to Network Rail, the crossing at the centre of the accident is user-worked with gates and telephone. The Network Rail signaller did not receive a phone call from the user of the crossing and the lorry driver would have had to either drive through or around to reach the rails.
Lucas said this is not a rare occurrence. ‘Sadly there are a number of incidents that occur where the driver of a vehicle finds himself on a crossing,’ she said. ‘It could be because they are going around barriers to get across the crossing without realising there is a train imminent. They’re more concerned about their journeys than the risks that they’re taking.’
Network Rail released figures in March this year showing that around 95 per cent of incidents at level crossings are down to motorist or pedestrian misuse or error.
According to its findings, there were 14 collisions between vehicles and trains at level crossings in 2009 and 13 deaths. Train drivers reported 145 near misses between motor vehicles and trains, which works out as nearly three a week in 2009.
On the release of figures in March, Network Rail chief executive Iain Coucher said: ‘Motorists are too often playing Russian roulette with a 200-tonne train – and tragically some lose their lives gambling at level crossings by running red lights or dodging around barriers.
‘I’m confident that lives will be saved if motorists learn how to safely use level crossings from the day they pass their test.’
A 38-year-old man from Cambridgeshire was arrested by Suffolk Police yesterday on suspicion of dangerous driving following the collision and the lorry was removed from the line shortly after midnight last night.
The investigation will continue this morning and, following its completion, the site will be handed back to Network Rail. Moving the train will, however, pose a significant engineering challenge.
British Transport Police deputy chief constable Paul Crowther said a 130-tonne crane is being brought to the site.
As of 18 August, the police reported that the injured man’s condition was serious but stable.
I think it is total neglegence of the sewage lorry driver
Why is the line closed for “several days”. At about the same time, the M1 was closed due to a fatal accident. this was reopened in a matter of hours.
Neither was it a major news story.
Why can’t a device such as that used in car parks with a grill that goes down when you have paid be used. In the case of a level crossinng the device would be always up right across the road and the motorist would have to press a button to lower it. There would be a sensor on the line which would prevent the device depressing set a certain distance away from the crossing to prevent motorists attempting to jump the crossing and that same sensor would activate a display telling the motorist a train is a certain distance away.
Re several days closure I guess it is the difficulty of raising the derailed coach and then getting the line repaired as it is likely to have been damaged when the coach derailed and hit the lorry.
Driver negligence, yes, but this has to be the product of habit where he obviously has done this many times before without incident. In today’s flood of E-systems and devices there must be an simple way to create an audible alert through the GPS or a like system. As with a TACO recorder I would think the sewage truck must be fitted out with GPS or the driver had a personal one. If neither of the above then perhaps legislation should be brought in for HGV and lower sized trucks and vans to have the GPS built in and always switched on through the operation of the ignition whether programmed to a destination or not. This could also be extended to motorway driving and help reduce pile ups of oncoming traffic after an accident. It shouldn’t cost too much to implement and may reailse some profit from the system servers.
This seems more a case of the negliegent rail companies passing the blame to others again. It is well documented that there are numerous problems with accidents which are nearly always fatal, and the rail companies know the problems and fail to act. This is purely a financial decision in most cases, does doing something as simple as installing a footbridge over ride a persons life.
There needs to be a clear decision and will by the Government to legislate and force the rail companies to improve their safety and not keep blaming anyone but themselves.
There were no photos with this piece, but it sounds like another half-barrier crossing, where drivers and pedestrians could walk or drive around the barriers, if they choose to. Surely it’s time all half-barrier crossings were replaced with full-barrier crossings to prevent this happening.
Having frequently sat waiting at level crossings, I can well understand the frustration, especially since in most cases there seems to be no sign of a train – however, given the time it takes to stop a train, the barriers need to close well in advance of any train, and often remain closed if a second train is close. Public education on rail safety is required, as are better barriers. CCTV cameras linked to signaling control points would seem a good idea too, plus a public-address system to warn off the ‘excessively enquisitive’.
Nigel (above) has almost a good idea. As well as the gate or half gate, have a set of spikes that rise above the road when the red lights are flashing to shred the tyres of any vehicle that is driven across. People would soon get the message……
With a lot of these crossings there is no power on hand, so full length gates or lowering one-way ramps is not possible, hence eveything is a manual operation. People just put laziness before lives.