Wembley Central rail crash
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The Wembley Central rail crash was a fatal
railway accident Classification of railway accidents, both in terms of cause and effect, is a valuable aid in studying rail (and other) accidents to help to prevent similar ones occurring in the future. Systematic investigation for over 150 years has led to the r ...
that occurred on 11 October 1984 just outside
Wembley Central railway station Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
,
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. The 17:54 passenger train from London Euston to Bletchley, formed of two Class 310
electric multiple unit 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 numbe ...
s, collided with a Freightliner train which was leaving Willesden yard. The first two coaches of the passenger train overturned onto their sides and three passengers were killed; 17 passengers and the driver were injured. The passenger train had passed a signal at 'danger' after the driver had suffered a transient episode of
amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...
, brought about by a rare medical condition. As a result, he had cancelled the AWS warnings at the signals approaching Wembley without realising.


Incident

Shortly after 18:00 a Freightliner train, 4D62, the 16:00 from Willesden to
Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...
consisting of locomotives 86006 and 85035 hauling 20 loaded Freightliner wagons was signalled from a goods line on to the Down Slow line just to the south of Wembley Central station. The train attempted to negotiate the crossovers that led from the goods line to the Down Slow line when its eleventh wagon was struck by an eight-car electric multiple-unit passenger train, 2A85, the 17:54 from London Euston to Bletchley, consisting of two 4-car Class 310 electric multiple-units. The resulting impact led to the deflection of the passenger train to its left towards the adjacent Fast lines with the remaining coaches derailed and overturned onto their sides apart from the rearmost coach. Emergency services were quickly called to the scene and arrived within twelve minutes. The resulting collision caused damage to track, signalling and overhead line equipment with the debris blocking all main lines into and out of Euston. Three passengers died, with a further seventeen passengers, including the driver of the passenger train, taken to a nearby hospital, with two detained. One detained passenger was released on 15 October and the other on 1 November.


Aftermath

The Down Fast line was restored at 18:22 on 12 October and later closed to traffic on 14 October to enable repairs to be completed. The Up Slow line was restored at 18:54 on 13 October and the Down Slow Line was restored on 06:00 on 15 October.


Investigation and report

A formal inquiry was ordered under the
Regulation of Railways Act 1871 Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. For ...
and was conducted by the Chief Inspecting Officer of Railways, Major Rose, who opened the inquiry. Evidence was heard in public in
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on 9 November and addressed the question of whether the freight train was moving or stationary at the moment of impact.


Medical board

The investigation turned its attention to the medical board when it was discovered that the driver Ronald Armstrong (born 25 July 1921) was found to have an unusual medical history. Armstrong regularly informed the board about suffering episodes of irregular disturbed vision that occurred three to four times a year without warning. Armstrong said he did not have such an episode when driving a train although he did suffer disturbed vision while driving his car. Armstrong had also suffered from morning headaches which dated back many years which often occurred when getting up. Although the symptoms were dull, never severe and frontal in situation, he slept well but tended to wake in the early hours. He also suffered from bouts of
indigestion Indigestion, also known as dyspepsia or upset stomach, is a condition of impaired digestion. Symptoms may include upper abdominal fullness, heartburn, nausea, belching, or upper abdominal pain. People may also experience feeling full earlier t ...
, which was treated with bicarbonate of soda. Armstrong also suffered from panic attacks with an episode occurring before the accident. One medical condition he no longer suffered from was breathlessness and he also lost his sense of smell 18 months before the accident occurred. Another medical condition that featured in the enquiry was Short Period Amnesia, a rare condition that could incapacitate a driver while still allowing him to remain upright and operate his train. This and other conditions were brought to the attention of the investigating officer and a panel of eminent doctors. The possibility of this condition being present was a factor in the decision not to prosecute the driver.


Recommendations

The investigating officer noted the failure of two technical devices to prevent this accident. These being the dead mans handle and the Automatic Warning System ( AWS). A driver suffering from Short Period Amnesia would continue to hold the former and cancel the latter while not taking effective action to slow or stop his train. He recommended adoption of a vigilance device to ensure the driver was alert and an improved form of AWS.


Notes and references


References


Sources

* * {{London rail accidents Railway accidents and incidents in London 1984 in London 1984 in England Railway accidents in 1984 History of the London Borough of Brent Transport in the London Borough of Brent Railway accidents involving a signal passed at danger Train collisions in England Accidents and incidents involving Network SouthEast October 1984 events in the United Kingdom 1984 disasters in the United Kingdom Rail accidents caused by a driver's error