The Purley station rail crash was a train collision that occurred just to the north of
Purley railway station in the
London Borough of Croydon on Saturday 4 March 1989, leaving five dead and 88 injured. The collision was caused by the driver of one of the trains
passing a signal at danger; he pleaded guilty to
manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...
and was sentenced to 12 months in prison plus six months suspended, although this was reduced to four months upon appeal, and in 2007 overturned. The
Department of Transport report noted that the signal had a high incidence of being passed at danger and recommended that an
automatic train protection
Automatic train protection (ATP) is a type of train protection system which continually checks that the speed of a train is compatible with the permitted speed allowed by signalling, including automatic stop at certain signal aspects. If it is ...
system should be introduced without delay and in the interim a repeater for the signal that had been passed be installed.
Collision
On 4 March 1989 the 12:50
Horsham
Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
to
London Victoria, consisting of a four-car
class 423 electric multiple unit no. 3441, stopped at
Purley railway station. As it left the station, it crossed from the slow line to the fast line as scheduled and at 13:39 was struck from behind by the following 12:17
Littlehampton to London Victoria, consisting of four-car
class 421 units nos. 1280 and 1285 (for a total of eight cars).
The first six coaches of the Littlehampton train left the track and came off the embankment, killing five passengers and injuring 88.
Aftermath
The first calls to the emergency services came from members of the public. The driver of a
light engine
Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United St ...
running on an adjacent track saw the collision and contacted the signalbox. The signalling equipment had been damaged in the collision and alarms had sounded in the box. The signalmen in the box spoke to railway control at
Waterloo
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat
* Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place.
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Antarctica
*King George Island (S ...
, but due to confusion about the location of the trains, police in East Sussex were first contacted. The collision had tripped circuit breakers controlling the DC traction current, but safety could not be assured as the supervisory circuits had been damaged. The incident was attended by British Transport Police, the fire brigade and the ambulance service, and a police helicopter was used to fly doctors to the site. Passengers who were able to walk were evacuated via Purley station, the last casualty being taken to hospital at about 15:15; the search however continued until 17:00.
The railway was closed until 6 March, although the damaged vehicles that lay on the embankment side were not all removed until 9 March. The crossover was replaced, and normal operations were restored on 27 March.
Trial, report and appeals
Before the Ministry of Transport report was published, Robert Morgan – the driver of the Littlehampton train – pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 months in prison plus six months suspended.
The report, published in 1989, found no fault in the Littlehampton train or signalling system, and concluded that the driver had failed to keep the train's speed under control, missing the preceding caution signal and passing the danger signal protecting the Horsham train. The line is equipped with
four aspect colour light signalling and British Rail's
Automatic Warning System (AWS). However the report noted that the signal had a high incidence of being passed at danger – four drivers had previously passed the signal when at danger in the previous five years. The AWS in use gave the same warning for either of the caution signals and danger, and was capable of being reset by a driver in a lapse of concentration. The report recommended that an
automatic train protection
Automatic train protection (ATP) is a type of train protection system which continually checks that the speed of a train is compatible with the permitted speed allowed by signalling, including automatic stop at certain signal aspects. If it is ...
system should be introduced without delay, and in the interim a repeater for the signal that had been passed be installed.
Morgan's sentence was later cut on appeal to four months, and on 12 December 2007 his conviction for manslaughter was overturned by the
Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
, ruling the conviction ''
unsafe'' as "something about the infrastructure of this particular junction was causing mistakes to be made" as new evidence showed that there had been four previous signals passed at danger at the same location in the five years before the crash. He died in March 2009, aged 66, as a result of drowning whilst sailing in the
River Medina
The River Medina is the main river of the Isle of Wight, England, rising at St Catherine's Down near Chale, and flowing northwards through the county town Newport, towards the Solent at Cowes. The river is a navigable tidal estuary from Newpor ...
on the Isle of Wight.
Legacy
A memorial garden was created at the station to commemorate the accident.
References and notes
Notes
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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External links
BBC report of accident
{{DEFAULTSORT:Purley Station Rail Crash
Railway accidents and incidents in London
Transport in the London Borough of Croydon
History of the London Borough of Croydon
Railway accidents in 1989
1989 disasters in the United Kingdom
1989 in England
1989 in London
Railway accidents involving a signal passed at danger
Accidents and incidents involving Network SouthEast
March 1989 events in the United Kingdom
Train collisions in England
Rail accidents caused by a driver's error