On 8 January 1991, a packed commuter train failed to stop and collided with the buffers at

Cannon Street station Cannon Street station, also known as London Cannon Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Travelcard zone 1 located on Cannon Street in the City of London and managed by Network Rail. It is ...

in London, United Kingdom, killing two and injuring 542. The cause was driver error, compounded by ageing wooden carriages.

Accident

The stopping service, composed of 10 cars of elderly Class 415 and Class 416 units 5618, 5484 and 6227, departed from

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter main line railway into London. Sevenoaks is from Charing Cross, the traditio ...

at 07:58, and had over 800 passengers on board after passing through the busy interchange at London Bridge. At 08:44 it collided with the buffer stop at the Cannon Street terminus within the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. The fifth and sixth carriages crushed into each other, lifting one off the tracks. A 24-year-old man, cut free from wreckage crushing his head and abdomen, died from a heart attack on the way to hospital. A 59-year-old woman died three days later from her injuries. 542 other passengers were injured, many because they had stood up ready to leave as the train entered the terminus platform. The inquiry put the impact speed at around 10 mph, higher than the rail operator's earlier estimates.

Inquiry

A report was compiled of the accident by Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate.A Report of the Collision that Occurred on 8 January 1991 at Cannon Street Station
at The Railways Archive No fault in the train's

braking system A brake is a machine, mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for Acceleration, slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of ...

could be found and the driver, Maurice Graham, was held to blame. He was not tested for drugs until three days after the accident, whereupon traces of

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

were found in his system. The

public inquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal commission in that ...

found that there was insufficient evidence to prove drug use had caused the accident. The inquiry found that the cause of the accident was solely that of driver error. The report also made the following observations: * The age of the elderly trains increased the effect of the impact. Of the two coaches that suffered the worst damage, one was built on an underframe dating from 1934, having been refitted with a new body in 1953 and involved in a previous collision with a locomotive in 1958; the other was built on an underframe from 1928. * The interior design of the coaches' fittings and the large number of slam doors could have resulted in weaknesses in the structure of the rolling stock. * More research is needed on the effect of impacts on passengers, particularly standing passengers, on board commuter trains. *

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 i ...

, or ATP, should be installed as quickly as practicably possible. * On-train data recorders would make the finding of evidence easier following railway accidents. * Legislation should be introduced to make it an offence for railway staff with safety responsibilities to be intoxicated while on duty. (The main cause of the

Eltham Well Hall rail crash The Eltham Well Hall rail crash was an accident on the British railway system that occurred on 11 June 1972 at approximately 21:35. An excursion train from Margate to Kentish Town derailed on a sharp curve at Eltham Well Hall station, Eltham, L ...

). * Sliding

buffer stops A buffer stop, bumper, bumping post, bumper block or stopblock (US), is a device to prevent railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of track. The design of the buffer stop is dependent, in part, on the kind of couplings ...

might have minimised the injury compared to the hydraulic buffer stops in this incident. * Arrangements for the booking-on of staff should be reviewed (a recommendation also made in the report for the

References

External links

Accident at Cannon Street on 8 January 1991Photographs of the accidentMore photographs of the accident
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cannon Street Station Rail Crash Railway accidents and incidents in London Railway accidents in 1991 1991 disasters in the United Kingdom 1991 in London Transport in the City of London Accidents and incidents involving Network SouthEast January 1991 events in the United Kingdom Rail accidents caused by a driver's error