Signaller who forgot train before crash had just four and a half hours' sleep, report reveals
The train smashed into a trailer at the farm level crossing
A rail signaller who "forgot” about an oncoming train before a horror crash was exhausted after having just four-and-a-half hours’ sleep, a report has revealed.
The shocking lapse came moments before a passenger train ploughed into a tractor trailer at a farm level crossing near Leominster, Herefordshire, near to the south Shropshire border.
Investigators found the signaller failed to keep track of the train before the smash, which left six people injured.
The crash happened at Nordan Farm on May 22 last year as the 8.30am Manchester to Cardiff service slammed into a loaded agricultural trailer being hauled across the tracks.
The train was travelling at around 80mph when it struck.
The trailer became stuck on the front and was dragged for hundreds of metres before the train ground to a halt.
Passengers were left shaken, with several suffering minor injuries, though no one on board or the tractor driver was killed.
The rural crossing relies on drivers ringing a signaller for permission before crossing.
Evidence shows the tractor driver did phone ahead for clearance before moving onto the line.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) report said the signaller "had forgotten about the presence of the train when they gave permission and did not check signal box equipment which was indicating the presence of the train beforehand, as they had been trained to."
Investigators found the signaller had no more than four-and-a-half hours’ sleep before his shift after attending a family emergency the previous evening.
The report stated: "By the time they got back home and into bed, it was around midnight... the signaller woke up at around 4.30am the following day, leaving shortly afterwards for their shift at Woofferton signal box, which was planned to start at 5.30am.”
But investigators say the signaller’s lapse, after a night of limited rest, meant the approaching train was not properly accounted for before the crossing was used.
They added the crash may have been caused by the signaller coping with "an increase in their workload, distraction and the effects of fatigue".
Experts are now examining the actions of those involved, as well as how risks are managed at user-worked crossings like Nordan Farm.
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