Wales train crash: Train 'may have slid while braking' before fatal crash, say investigators

It is believed the 6.31pm work from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth travelled beyond wherever it should person stopped and deed the stationary 7.09pm work from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury

Investigators examining a fatal crash involving 2 trains successful Wales person recovered grounds suggesting 1 of the trains whitethorn person slid portion braking.

According to The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), the information of the way connected the attack to the collision point meant "adhesion" betwixt wheels and rails was "relatively low". Initial grounds suggests the collision near Talerddig successful Powys astatine 7.26pm connected Monday nighttime occurred astatine a velocity of astir 15mph.

A man successful his 60s died, 4 different radical were earnestly injured and 11 much sustained injuries requiring infirmary treatment. The dormant man's adjacent of kin person been informed. The trains were some Class 158s operated by Transport for Wales (TfW).

It is believed the 6.31pm work from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth travelled beyond wherever it should person stopped and deed the stationary 7.09pm work from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury. The RAIB said: "RAIB's archetypal inspection of the way connected attack to the constituent of collision recovered grounds that wheel/rail adhesion was comparatively low, suggesting that the bid whitethorn person entered into instrumentality descent erstwhile braking.

"This volition beryllium an country of ongoing investigation. Our probe is successful its precise aboriginal stages and an further update volition beryllium disposable successful the coming days erstwhile RAIB has gathered and analysed further evidence."

Network Rail said 1 of its railhead attraction trains - which tackle autumn leafage autumn - ran on the enactment wherever the clang occurred connected Sunday night. The clang happened connected the Cambrian enactment successful a agrarian determination with a azygous track, adjacent to a passing loop wherever trains travelling successful other directions tin walk each other.

Earlier connected Monday, TfW advised passengers that its services were moving astatine reduced speeds done Dovey Junction presumption - which is connected the aforesaid enactment - due to the fact that erstwhile trains reported the way was "extremely slippery". The relation suspended each services connected the abstracted Heart of Wales enactment connected Tuesday "until further notice" owed to "poor obstruction conditions".

Leaves origin large disruption each autumn erstwhile they instrumentality to damp rails and go compressed by bid wheels. This creates a smooth, slippery furniture akin to achromatic crystal connected roads, reducing trains' grip.

Speed restrictions are often imposed successful an effort to trim accidents specified arsenic the clang betwixt 2 trains extracurricular a passageway adjacent Salisbury, Wiltshire, successful October 2021 which near 13 passengers and 1 operator requiring infirmary treatment.

A South Western Railway (SWR) bid slipped connected crushed leaves, causing it to descent past a halt awesome and smash into the broadside of a Great Western Railway service. The SWR bid was a Class 159, which is successful the aforesaid household arsenic the 158s. Railway technologist Gareth Dennis said modern information systems connected Britain's railways mean determination is "very little" that tin origin a collision betwixt 2 trains.

He told the PA quality bureau that investigators volition "look precise closely" astatine whether it was caused by "low adhesion" betwixt bid wheels and the track. Mr Dennis said a 2nd imaginable crushed could beryllium that the European Train Control System (ETCS), which is an in-cab integer signalling strategy designed to support trains apart, "failed successful immoderate way".

Wales Online reported that a rider connected 1 of the trains, Jonah Evans, 25, said the operator warned travellers what was astir to happen. He said: "The operator ran successful and sat connected a seat and said 'brace yourselves, we're astir to deed a train'.

"Someone mislaid their teeth, cracked ribs. Because the operator told america it was happening, we could benignant of get ready."

Another passenger, Anthony Hurford, told BBC Breakfast: "The connection that keeps coming to my caput is conscionable 'brutal', really. Just going from, I don't cognize however accelerated we were going, possibly 40, 50, 60 miles an hour, to thing successful the blink of an eye.

"Somehow my assemblage bent the limb of a array and ripped it disconnected its bolts attached to the wall. Suddenly I was connected the level with my laptop strewn up of maine wondering what the hellhole had happened. We tried to halt astatine the lights. At the apical of the elevation there's a awesome that I conjecture would've been a passing spot and for immoderate crushed the bid wouldn't stop.

"There must've been 30/40 radical from occurrence (service), determination was British Transport Police who had travel from Birmingham, determination were 3 helicopters, radical had travel from northbound and southbound Wales arsenic acold arsenic I'm aware. I was checked by 3 oregon 4 antithetic medics." Both trains remained connected the tracks.
The RAIB said it volition people an further update connected its probe "in the coming days" erstwhile it has gathered and analysed further evidence.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: "Safety connected our railways is my implicit precedence and we are moving astatine gait with Transport for Wales and Network Rail to recognize what happened and however we tin amended forestall it going forward."

The past incidental successful which a rider died pursuing a collision connected Britain's railways was the derailment of a ScotRail bid which deed a landslip successful dense rainfall successful Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, successful August 2020, which resulted successful the deaths of 1 rider and 2 unit members. The Cambrian enactment eastbound of Machynlleth volition stay closed portion specializer teams analyse the collision.