The Polmont rail accident, also known as the Polmont rail disaster, occurred on 30July 1984 to the west of

Polmont Polmont ( gd, Poll-Mhonadh) is a village in the Falkirk council area of Central Scotland. It lies towards the east of the town of Falkirk, north of the Union Canal, which runs adjacent to the village. Due to its situation in Central Scotland, ...

, near

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had ...

, in Scotland. A westbound push-pull express train travelling from

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

struck a cow, which had gained access to the track through a damaged fence from a field near

Polmont railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Polmont railway station, Stirlingshire (geograph 5433024).jpg , caption = Polmont station in 2018, following bridge rebuilding and electrification works , borough = Polmont, Falkirk , countr ...

. The collision caused all six carriages and the locomotive of the train to derail, killing 13people and injuring 61others. The accident led to a debate about the safety of push-pull trains on

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

Background

The accident happened on one of the busiest commuter lines in Scotland."13 Dead, 44 Injured After Train Hits Cow".

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

, New York City. 31 July 1984. At the time of the accident, British Rail passenger trains between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley were operated by the push-pull technique with a single British Rail Class47

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

located at one end of the train at all timesSimmons, Jack; Biddle, Gordon (editors) 1997. ''Oxford Companion to British Railway History'' p. 407. Oxford University Press. Glover, John (1999). ''Railway Operations'' p. 58. Ian Allan, Shepperton, England. (the locomotive usually pulled the carriages from Glasgow to Edinburgh and pushed them on the return journey). At the other end of the train was a

Driving Brake Standard Open A Driving Brake Standard Open (DBSO) is a type of railway carriage in Great Britain, converted to operate as a control car; this is not to be confused with DVTs, such as those in InterCity 225 sets. Fourteen such vehicles, numbered 9701 t ...

(DBSO). DBSO carriages were introduced on the line in 1980 and consisted of a passenger carriage with a control cab at the front for the driver; a DBSO would be situated at the front of the train allowing the driver to control the locomotive with a set of remote controls from which control signals were sent through the lighting circuits of the train to the locomotive pushing from behind. This system meant that the train could continuously run between the two cities without having to allow time to switch the locomotive to the front of the train between departures. However, it left the front of the train vulnerable when being pushed from behind because the front end was lighter than the rear and had the risk of being pushed over an obstruction, leading to

derailment In rail transport, a derailment occurs when a rail vehicle such as a train comes off its rails. Although many derailments are minor, all result in temporary disruption of the proper operation of the railway system and they are a potentially ...

.Stead, Jean. "'Push pull' trains to be altered after death crash inquiry / Call for safer trains after derailment in Scotland". ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', London. 22 February 1985.

Accident

On Monday 30July 1984, a westbound express train, the 17:30 service from

Edinburgh Waverley Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...

Glasgow Queen Street , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Queen Street railway station (geograph 6687389).jpg , caption = Main entrance in 2020 , borough = Glasgow , country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name = Grid reference , grid_positi ...

Polmont rail disaster remembered 25 years on
''falkirkherald.co.uk''. ''

Falkirk Herald ''The Falkirk Herald'' is a weekly newspaper and daily news website published by National World. It provides reportage, opinion and analysis of news, current affairs and sport in the towns of Falkirk, Grangemouth, Larbert, Stenhousemuir and ...

''. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2013. – consisting of a British Rail Class 47/7

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...

pushing five Mark 3 coaches and fronted by a DBSO (no. 9706) – made a scheduled stop at Linlithgow station and accelerated to approximately , passing through Polmont station shortly afterwards. To the west of Polmont, the track curved left and passed the junction for Stirling, then curved right with a steady gradient towards Falkirk High station. After passing the junction the train driver, John Tennant, spotted a cow on the line in the

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

on the approach to Falkirk High and made an emergency brake application; he had only between six and twelve seconds to react to the obstruction and apply the emergency brakes because of the curvature of the track. The dynamics of the train, with the locomotive pushing from behind, meant that when the brakes were applied from the DBSO at the front; there was a delay in transmission of the signal to the locomotive brakes to prevent a sudden backlash to the carriages in front;UK: Selby Disaster 28 February 2001, Push - Pull: the Hidden Dangers
''danger-ahead.railfan.net''. 28 February 2001. Retrieved 27 April 2013. this caused the train to decelerate only slightly. The train hit the cow, an adult

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of ...

weighing , at 17:55 ( BST). The impact of the collision destroyed the animal, but a significant part of the carcass, later thought to be a leg bone, became trapped under the leading

bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...

of the DBSO, lifting it off the track and derailing it. The DBSO ran derailed for approximately and then veered to the left, before running up the edge of the cutting into trees at the top. It then turned on its side, as it was pushed round by the force of the train behind. The second vehicle, after climbing over the rear end of the DBSO, somersaulted end over end, eventually hitting the fifth vehicle as it ran past it. The third vehicle was hit by the DBSO, as it fell back down the wall of the cutting, after rebounding from the trees. The DBSO and third vehicle were so badly damaged that they had to be cut up on site. Casualties were mainly in the two leading vehicles; most fatalities were due to passengers being ejected through windows, being hit by other passengers or by objects as the vehicles were thrown about. The possibility of trains being fitted with seatbelts was raised and rejected, as it was again 20years later after the derailment at Ufton Nervet in 2004. The main focus was that the light axle-loading of the DBSO had led to its being more easily derailed than a heavier vehicle would have been; modifications were put in place to lessen the chances of a recurrence of the derailment. This problem was to be revisited in the Great Heck accident in 2001, where a leading coach of a train being powered from the rear was again derailed by an object (this time a motor vehicle) on the line.

Recommendations

The inquiry made recommendations which were followed; the main ones of which were: * Object deflectors were to be fitted to the leading vehicles of all trains that had an axle load of less than 16tonnes.Report on improvements in the safety of passengers and staff involved in train accidents
(PDF), '' RSSB''. October 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2013. * Improvements to fencing where livestock were adjacent to the railway.

Memorial

In 2009, on the 25thanniversary of the accident, a memorial plaque was erected and unveiled by

Falkirk Council Falkirk (; sco, Fawkirk; gd, An Eaglais Bhreac) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas of Scotland. It was formed on 1 April 1996 by way of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 from the exact boundaries of Falkirk District, one ...

First ScotRail First ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by FirstGroup which operated the ScotRail franchise from October 2004 until March 2015. Prior to October 2004, trains were run by ScotRail (National Express). First ScotRail was s ...

and the local emergency services at Polmont station to remember those who died and were injured. The memorial also commended the actions of the emergency services, railway workers and others who responded to the incident.Plaque unveiled for anniversary of Polmont rail disaster
''stv.tv''. STV. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2013.Rail disaster victims remembered
''news.bbc.co.uk''.

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

. 31 July 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2013.

References

External links

Image of accident site
{{Railway accidents in the United Kingdom, 1900–1999, state=collapsed Derailments in Scotland Transport in Falkirk (council area) Railway accidents in 1984 1984 disasters in the United Kingdom 1984 in Scotland Accidents and incidents involving British Rail July 1984 events in the United Kingdom