News

Track worker dodges train by two seconds on Colas project

Forward-facing CCTV showing the controller of site safety in the up line cess as the train approaches — Forward-facing CCTV showing the worker in the upline cess as the train approaches (Image: Great Western Railway)

A track worker missed an oncoming train by two seconds after they moved out of a safe area of work and got close to an adjacent line open to rail traffic.

The incident happened around 10:44 on 13 March when a passenger train was travelling at approximately 87 km/h on the London Paddington to Penzance main line near Littlehempston in Devon.

The track worker was the controller of site safety (COSS) for a group working on signal troughing nearby. They all had been provided by PACE Infrastructure Solutions to Colas Rail for this job.

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The group had been working using a ‘separated’ system of work, which requires staff to remain at least 2m away from any open line. The near miss occurred after the COSS left the group and moved close to a line which was still open to rail traffic, placing them at risk of being struck.

View of the tracks where with accident happened with measurements taken at the location. — Measurements taken at the incident location (Image: Colas/Network Rail with RAIB annotations)

Unaware of the near miss

As the train approached, the COSS moved to the cess, the space alongside the line outside the ballast shoulder, and out of the path of the approaching train. The COSS moved clear around two seconds before the train passed.

On-train data recorder evidence and forward-facing CCTV images show that the COSS was obscured from the train driver’s view until around five seconds before the train reached them. Around one second later, the driver sounded the warning horn to warn of the train’s approach.

CCTV images show that, in response, the COSS moved into the vegetation by the side of the cess and that they were clear of the train’s path around two seconds before it passed. The train driver immediately reported the near miss to the signaller.

The COSS did not consider that there had been a near miss. They stated that they only realised they had been involved in a near miss when the driver of a subsequent train, who had been cautioned by the signaller, asked them to contact the signaller using a signal post telephone.

Earlier this year, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch launched a ‘preliminary examination’ into a near-miss accident of a track worker and a passenger train near Fishguard, Pembrokeshire.