The Spa Road Junction rail crash was an accident on the British railway system which occurred during the peak evening rush hour of 8 January 1999 at Spa Road Junction in

Bermondsey Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham ...

, in South East London.

The incident

On a dark and wet evening, a

Connex South Eastern Connex South Eastern was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Connex that operated the South Eastern franchise from October 1996 until November 2003. History On 13 October 1996 Connex commenced operating the South Easter ...

train from Dover Priory to Charing Cross collided with a

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

train from Brighton to

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

causing derailment to both trains. The accident resulted in no fatalities and four injuries. The Thameslink train had been held at a danger (red) signal until the route was set for it to cross from the

Brighton Main Line The Brighton Main Line (also known as the South Central Main Line) is a major railway line in the United Kingdom that links Brighton, on the south coast of England, with central London. In London the line has two branches, out of and station ...

onto the London Bridge Up Loop Line, and the signal then cleared. The Connex train, which was approaching from behind, passed a preliminary caution (double yellow) signal then a caution (yellow) signal and then a danger (red) signal. It continued for 283 metres (309 yards) past the red signal until the point where the two lines converged. It was travelling at an estimated speed of when it collided with the Thameslink train which was estimated to be travelling at around . Both trains were derailed and damage was caused to most of the carriages. Disruption was caused to other rail services, although trains continued to run past the accident site on the

Cannon Street Cannon Street is a road in the City of London, the historic nucleus of London and its modern financial centre. It runs roughly parallel with the River Thames, about north of it, in the south of the City. It is the site of the ancient London ...

lines. The emergency services struggled to access the accident scene but eventually 282 people were evacuated from these two trains. Some 200 people from another train a short distance behind (Connex South Central service from London Bridge to Guildford train) were initially left unsupervised, and had to find their own way to evacuate themselves in the inclement weather. Some were evacuated via the disused

Spa Road railway station Spa Road railway station in Bermondsey, south-east London, was the original terminus of the capital's first railway, the London and Greenwich Railway (L&GR). It was also the first railway terminus in what is now Greater London. First opened in ...

buildings, the former terminus of the South East & Chatham Railway. Trains were still running on the south eastern side, some away from passengers evacuating the Guildford bound train. The driver of the Connex train had already passed a signal at danger without authority on a previous occasion, and was still under special supervision because of this. Following the accident, he was permanently removed from driving duties. There was no history of previous Category A SPADs at this signal.

Junction layout

Spa Road Junction is a busy ladder-crossover, located a short distance south east of station. It controls the crossing movements to and from London Bridge (High Level) station, and at the time of the collision in 1999 the line configuration was: *Line 1 Down (from Cannon Street via London Bridge) *Line 2 Reversible (to/from Cannon Street via London Bridge) *Line 3 Up (to Cannon Street via London Bridge) *Line 4 Down (from Charing Cross via London Bridge) *Line 5 Down (from Charing Cross via London Bridge) *Line 6 Up (To Charing Cross via London Bridge) *Line 7 Up Passenger Loop (To Charing Cross via London Bridge or Platform Avoiding loop)

Infrastructure

All signals in the vicinity of Spa Road junction are 4 aspect colour light signals. The signalling method is

Track circuit A track circuit is an electrical device used to prove the absence of a train on rail tracks to signallers and control relevant signals. An alternative to track circuits are axle counters. Principles and operation The basic principle behind t ...

Block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

, controlled by London Bridge signalling centre which is located nearby, adjacent to platform 16 at London Bridge station.

The collision point

The Thameslink train was approaching London Bridge from New Cross Gate on the Up Fast line of the

, and had been signalled to cross on to the Up Passenger Loop of the

South Eastern Main Line The South Eastern Main Line is a major long-distance railway route in South East England, UK, one of the three main routes crossing the county of Kent, going via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone to Dover. The other routes are the ...

at Spa Road junction. The Connex South Eastern train was approaching Spa Road from New Cross and had received the correct signalling sequence of a Preliminary Caution (two yellow aspect signal) and Caution (single yellow aspect signal) prior to L154 (the signal protecting the junction) being at Danger. However the driver did not respond to the signals and failed stop his train at the Danger signal, continuing until his train collided with the Thameslink train at the trailing points.

Rolling stock

The Thameslink train was an eight-coach train consisting of two Class 319 four-coach

electric multiple units An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...

(EMUs). The Connex South Eastern was also an eight-coach train consisting of a four-coach Class 411 (411602) EMU and a four-coach Class 423 EMU. The class 411 unit was repaired at

Eastleigh Works Eastleigh Works is a locomotive, carriage and wagon building and repair facility in the town of Eastleigh, in the county of Hampshire in England. History LSWR The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened a carriage and wagon works at Ea ...

and became the only class 411 EMU in Connex livery as a result.

Investigation

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) concluded that the accident was caused by the Connex train passing a signal at danger (red). The HSE concluded that this was probably due to human error as no evidence of malfunction was found in any equipment tested. The investigation of the accident found "deficiencies" in the training and experience of staff in dealing with emergency situations. The cause of the accident was concluded to be driver error due to poor staff training. One anomaly was that the "Sunflower" display in the cab of the Connex train was showing the all-black "clear" indication (meaning that the last signal which had been passed was displaying a green aspect). However the HSE report concluded that the

Automatic Warning System The Automatic Warning System (AWS) was introduced in the 1950s in the United Kingdom to provide a train driver with an audible warning and visual reminder that they were approaching a distant signal at caution. Its operation was later extended t ...

(AWS) on both trains was probably working correctly, and that the shock of the collision had caused the electro-mechanical indicator to change. In any case, even if the AWS had given a wrong indication this would not have absolved the driver of the Connex train of his duty to observe and obey the signals. The conclusion was that the

Train Protection & Warning System The Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) is a train protection system used throughout the British passenger main-line railway network, and in Victoria, Australia. The British Rail Safety and Standards Board's definition is: The purpose of TP ...

might have stopped or at least slowed the Connex train down if it had been installed. The ''Railway Safety Regulations 1999'' were introduced in the August, which stipulated that train protection must be implemented throughout the network by the end of 2003. The regulations stopped short of requiring Automatic Train Protection (ATP) to be installed.

References

External links

Railways Archive
– Accident at Spa Road (Summary)
Railways Archive
– Report by the Health and Safety Executive's Railway Inspectorate into the train accident at Spa Road (PDF) {{coord , 51, 29, 24, N, 0, 3, 16, W, type:event_region:GB, display=title Transport in the London Borough of Southwark Transport in the London Borough of Lewisham Railway accidents and incidents in London Railway accidents in 1999 1999 in London Bermondsey Railway accidents involving a signal passed at danger Derailments in England Accidents and incidents involving Connex South Eastern Accidents and incidents involving Thameslink January 1999 events in the United Kingdom Train collisions in England Rail accidents caused by a driver's error