Union claims rail passengers put at risk by five-inch gap in track (From York Press)
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Union claims rail passengers put at risk by five-inch gap in track
12:20pm Monday 3rd December 2012 in News
By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter
The five-inch gap in a rail track at Colton Junction
PASSENGERS on the York to London line were placed at serious risk when a five-inch gap developed in the track just south of York, a rail union claimed today.
The RMT has released this picture, which it said showed the rail having crumbled away to nothing, leaving a potentially lethal gap at Colton Junction where normal running speeds are 125mph.
The union claimed the picture was taken at the beginning of last week. “The original crack had been identified on inspection and painted blue to mark it down for repair or replacement,” it said.
“However, due to cuts it took four days to replace, in which time a crack had become a five-inch gap, leaving trains, passengers and staff at risk of a serious and potentially lethal incident.
“A train could have derailed, jumped the tracks and collided with an on-coming service.”
But Network Rail said that as soon as it knew about the crack, it stopped all trains and rectified the problem. “This was managed within all safety standards and was in no way affected by changes to staffing levels,” said route managing director Phil Verster.
“A minor defect in the rail – not a crack - was picked up by our monitoring train on November 12. A rail replacement was scheduled for December 9 and the defect was maintained on November 21.
“On November 21, there was no crack in the rail. Weekly inspections of this defect were completed. This is fully compliant with best practice and industry standards.
“The rail deteriorated which was identified by a train driver on the neighbouring line at 12.01 on Wednesday November 28. We immediately stopped all trains from travelling over the fault and the track was replaced by 19.37 that evening. Safety issues will never be compromised in the name of managing costs.
“As this incident illustrates, all reports from drivers are investigated and action taken as appropriate.”
The RMT said it understood there was massive pressure to keep the East Coast Main Line running from the Government as it looks to re-privatise the service.
General Secretary Bob Crow claimed: "This shocking picture highlights the reality on Britain's railways today. Staffing and inspections have been cuts in the dash to save money and there is massive pressure right from the top of Government to keep services running at all costs regardless of the potential human cost.
"This is exactly the same set of poisonous conditions that lead us to the Hatfield disaster and as this picture shows we are dicing with death and risking another major rail tragedy. RMT is demanding action before it is too late.”
An East Coast spokesman said: “Safety is our number one priority for our customers. No East Coast train services used this section of track once the track defect was spotted.
“Our trains were diverted onto alternative tracks at this four track section of the route until repairs were carried out and the line reopened in the evening.”
Comments(31)
again
says...
12:57pm Mon 3 Dec 12
It would hardly surprising if the railways didn't suffer in the way roads are doing.
bob the builder
says...
1:04pm Mon 3 Dec 12
A: bluster from a union to deflect attention from their finances as the country reflects on immoral but legal tax evasion
B: having a go at the government so Labour get value for money, having won a couple of local elections - (pride comes before a fall)
C: Illegal trespass to take the photograph
pedalling paul
says...
2:20pm Mon 3 Dec 12
The Public Enquiry into the Pendolino derailment at Grayrigg scathingly noted the very limited time train-free that engineers had to inspect and repair the nuts and bolts of the railway.
Commerce versus safety is a fine balance.
xtc
says...
2:46pm Mon 3 Dec 12
pedalling paul wrote:But note the trains did nt stop at all!
The point is that a weekly inspection of known defects is clearly insufficient. Was it not for the eagle eyed driver on an adjoining track, the spectre of Hatfield could so easily have returned.
The Public Enquiry into the Pendolino derailment at Grayrigg scathingly noted the very limited time train-free that engineers had to inspect and repair the nuts and bolts of the railway.
Commerce versus safety is a fine balance.
johnwill
says...
2:59pm Mon 3 Dec 12
Mr Happy
says...
3:32pm Mon 3 Dec 12
bob the builder wrote:What it is is pointing out a very dangerous condition. Network Rail say it was a minor crack when identified. Yet days later there's a five inch gap!
Is this:
A: bluster from a union to deflect attention from their finances as the country reflects on immoral but legal tax evasion
B: having a go at the government so Labour get value for money, having won a couple of local elections - (pride comes before a fall)
C: Illegal trespass to take the photograph
This was never a minor crack. Colton is a very fast junction and this line should have been shut as soon as any crack was identified and repairs made immediately.
RMT are spot on and the railway using public should back them to the hilt on this one.
sparkseffect
says...
3:32pm Mon 3 Dec 12
twoleftfeet
says...
4:28pm Mon 3 Dec 12
johnwill
says...
4:29pm Mon 3 Dec 12
twoleftfeet
says...
4:36pm Mon 3 Dec 12
johnwill wrote:Read it again.
The most alarming point is, and these are Network Rails words, the break was identified and reported by a TRAIN DRIVER 16 days after the defect was found.
“A minor defect in the rail – not a crack - was picked up by our monitoring train on November 12. A rail replacement was scheduled for December 9 and the defect was maintained on November 21.
“On November 21, there was no crack in the rail. Weekly inspections of this defect were completed. This is fully compliant with best practice and industry standards.
“The rail deteriorated which was identified by a train driver on the neighbouring line at 12.01 on Wednesday November 28.
That's not 16 days. 7 days I think you'll find.
Caecilius
says...
5:03pm Mon 3 Dec 12
sparkseffect wrote:Presumably nobody at Network Rail wanted to see a repeat of Hatfield in 2002, either - when we had the Potters Bar crash. Seven more deaths, once again caused by appallingly poor track maintenance, on their watch and less than two years after the entire network had been thrown into meltdown by Hatfield. As they were self-evidently complacent about safety so soon after the event, why should we not suspect they've relapsed into complacency again, another ten years down the line? And remember how their contractor tried to shuffle their share of the blame onto an imaginary "saboteur", who they claimed must have been fiddling around with a spanner in the middle of the ECML, in the dark, in a built up area a few hundred yards from a station (hardly the spot you'ld pick, even if you were happy to risk your life to commit such an act), loosening the bolts that in fact their employees had failed to inspect properly?
How typical of the troublemakers at the RMT to try to make political capital out of this - putting fears about safety into the minds of potential passengers will put the RMT's own members out of work. Yes, a cracked rail is serious and, if it develops into a break, trains should be stopped - as they were. No doubt the RMT would like to go back to the days of lengthmen patrolling the line, but that's a nonsense on a 125mph railway. Network Rail may have a lot of faults, but nobody there wants to see a repeat of Hatfield.
On this occasion, the RMT are the voice of sanity.
Mr Happy
says...
5:21pm Mon 3 Dec 12
sparkseffect wrote:I'm sorry but a cracked rail on a junction as fast as Colton is so serious that trains should be stopped from going over that section of track BEFORE it develops into a break. Once there is a break it could be too late!
How typical of the troublemakers at the RMT to try to make political capital out of this - putting fears about safety into the minds of potential passengers will put the RMT's own members out of work. Yes, a cracked rail is serious and, if it develops into a break, trains should be stopped - as they were. No doubt the RMT would like to go back to the days of lengthmen patrolling the line, but that's a nonsense on a 125mph railway. Network Rail may have a lot of faults, but nobody there wants to see a repeat of Hatfield.
long distance depressive
says...
5:26pm Mon 3 Dec 12
johnwill
says...
5:47pm Mon 3 Dec 12
twoleftfeet wrote:I think you will find from the defect being found by the monitoring train to a train driver seeing the break and a proper repair being done is 16 days.
johnwill wrote:Read it again.
The most alarming point is, and these are Network Rails words, the break was identified and reported by a TRAIN DRIVER 16 days after the defect was found.
“A minor defect in the rail – not a crack - was picked up by our monitoring train on November 12. A rail replacement was scheduled for December 9 and the defect was maintained on November 21.
“On November 21, there was no crack in the rail. Weekly inspections of this defect were completed. This is fully compliant with best practice and industry standards.
“The rail deteriorated which was identified by a train driver on the neighbouring line at 12.01 on Wednesday November 28.
That's not 16 days. 7 days I think you'll find.
That is my point.
nearlyman
says...
6:48pm Mon 3 Dec 12
old_geezer
says...
7:39pm Mon 3 Dec 12
It shouldn't have waited until then. NR's own explanation reveals poor standards.
nearlyman: weird comment! We don't know, and if we did - and even if it were 8, vastly unlikely - so what?
pedalling paul
says...
8:31pm Mon 3 Dec 12
But seeminly of less importance than the royal pregnancy.
twoleftfeet
says...
8:45pm Mon 3 Dec 12
old_geezer wrote:Do you know what Network Rails standards are? How do you know they are poor?
“As this incident illustrates, all reports from drivers are investigated and action taken as appropriate.”
It shouldn't have waited until then. NR's own explanation reveals poor standards.
nearlyman: weird comment! We don't know, and if we did - and even if it were 8, vastly unlikely - so what?
I certainly don't.
Guy Fawkes
says...
8:54pm Mon 3 Dec 12
jumbojet
says...
12:07am Tue 4 Dec 12
redbluelion
says...
6:57am Tue 4 Dec 12
nearlyman wrote:nice photo.
The union will have probably had 8 people standing around whilst 1 took the photo.
CHISSY1
says...
8:28am Tue 4 Dec 12
TheManOnThe172Bus
says...
9:11am Tue 4 Dec 12
Terrifying: the fact that Network Rail seems so unbothered about this. They were lucky - someone spotted the break from another track before it caused a disaster. An appropriate reaction would be a heavyweight enquiry in how something classified as "minor" can deteriorate so far so fast: there must be something wrong with the initial classification, or in the response time they allow themselves.
But Network Rail seem to have fooled themselves in deciding that because nobody got hurt, all is OK. The strong safety record of the railways is thanks to a culture that has, over the years, taken near-misses very seriously. It seems that this approach no longer applies. Chilling.
nearlyman
says...
9:41am Tue 4 Dec 12
PKH
says...
10:01am Tue 4 Dec 12
TheManOnThe172Bus wrote:Rails are welded together under tension to stop them buckling in hot weather (expansion), it is therefore not surprising given the cold weather (rail contraction) that a crack soon becomes a gap. Network Rail maintenance bosses should have been aware of this and scheduled the work to be done ASAP not weeks later, this is sheer negligence on their part.
Worrying: the fact that a "minor defect in the rail" can degrade to a break within the response time that Network Rail reckons is OK for a fault of that type.
Terrifying: the fact that Network Rail seems so unbothered about this. They were lucky - someone spotted the break from another track before it caused a disaster. An appropriate reaction would be a heavyweight enquiry in how something classified as "minor" can deteriorate so far so fast: there must be something wrong with the initial classification, or in the response time they allow themselves.
But Network Rail seem to have fooled themselves in deciding that because nobody got hurt, all is OK. The strong safety record of the railways is thanks to a culture that has, over the years, taken near-misses very seriously. It seems that this approach no longer applies. Chilling.
old_geezer
says...
10:56am Tue 4 Dec 12
twoleftfeet wrote:Of course, I'm not a rail engineer. NR's account, however, reveals that either their standards aren't adequate (my guess), or weren't adhered to. One or t'other.
old_geezer wrote: “As this incident illustrates, all reports from drivers are investigated and action taken as appropriate.” It shouldn't have waited until then. NR's own explanation reveals poor standards. nearlyman: weird comment! We don't know, and if we did - and even if it were 8, vastly unlikely - so what?Do you know what Network Rails standards are? How do you know they are poor? I certainly don't.
rattydriver
says...
12:59pm Tue 4 Dec 12
sheps lad
says...
2:32pm Tue 4 Dec 12
jumbojet
says...
5:38pm Tue 4 Dec 12
Ignatius Lumpopo
says...
12:28pm Fri 7 Dec 12
Elephant says...
12:56pm Mon 3 Dec 12
e issues due to the ground being so saturated?