Door falls off Holyhead to Cardiff WAG Express in Bangor tunnel - 29 Sep 2014

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

This morning's 0533 Holyhead to Cardiff Central lost a door as it was passing through Bangor Tunnel.

No injuries reported on what could have been a serious incident.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P22518/2014/09/29/advanced



I wonder if this would be investigated by the RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch)?

[TonyK]

If they operate to similar rules to the AAIB^▸ (Air Accident Investigation Branch), then yes, they would investigate. Anything that causes damage to an aircraft can be investigated, especially if there was the potential for risk of injury. In this case, there clearly was, both to any passenger who may have been loitering by it, and to any PW^▸ (Permanent Way) crew in the immediate area. Put simply, you wouldn't want it happening again.

[eightf48544]

Is that the loco hauled set? Central locking?

[Western Enterprise]

 
How does a door fall off ?
Could it have opened, rather than becoming detached from the body?
Sounds pretty serious to me !

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Train door 'ripped from hinges' in Bangor tunnel


Liberal Democrat AM Eluned Parrott shows a picture of the damaged train in the assemby chamber

An investigation is under way after a train door was reportedly ripped from its hinges as it went through a tunnel.

No-one was hurt in the incident involving Monday's 0533 Holyhead to Cardiff Central service in Bangor at around 06:00 BST.

Rail operator Arriva Trains Wales said a "thorough investigation" had been launched.

The Rail Accident Investigation Board (RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch)) has also been informed.

Arriva Trains Wales said the door was found to be missing at Penmaenmawr.

Passengers were moved to the back of the train and the affected section was locked out of use before the train carried on to Llandudno Junction where it was taken out of service for examination.

Raising the issue in the assembly chamber on Tuesday, Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Minister Eluned Parrott called on the Welsh government to urgently review train carriages in Wales to ensure they were safe for use.

"If passengers or staff had been standing in the area at the time of the incident - a common occurrence on our overcrowded trains - the consequences could have been far worse," she said.

In reply, Finance Minister Jane Hutt said control of railway rolling stock was not devolved but said the AM had highlighted "a very serious incident" which needed to be brought to the attention of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Department for Transport.

[trainer]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

"If passengers or staff had been standing in the area at the time of the incident - a common occurrence on our overcrowded trains - the consequences could have been far worse," she said.

Is that service packed at 6am? Or have we a politician's exaggeration? Still serious though.

[chrisr_75]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

"If passengers or staff had been standing in the area at the time of the incident - a common occurrence on our overcrowded trains - the consequences could have been far worse," she said.

Is that service packed at 6am? Or have we a politician's exaggeration? Still serious though.

I've seen the evening service in the opposite direction completely stuffed at Newport a few times...Either way, doors should NOT just come off trains and if there was even only a single passenger and/or crew onboard it means someone could've fallen out. Not to mention anyone working at the trackside or anyone innocently standing at any of the 3 stations this passed through between Bangor tunnel & Llandudno Junction.

[eightf48544]

Being loco hauled I assumme that the Central Door Locking does not interface with the loco as it would on a Multiple Unit.

[Chris from Nailsea]

I've taken the opportunity to expand the heading of this topic, purely for ease of future reference.  

I wonder if this would be investigated by the RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch)?

From the Rail Accident Investigation Branch website:

Scope of accidents and incidents investigated

The scope of RAIB^s work is set out in the Act and we are mandated to investigate any serious railway accident, as defined in the Regulations (Regulation 2(3)), which occurs on a railway, as defined by the Transport and Works Act 1992. This covers:
- the national railway networks in Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- the Channel Tunnel (in co-operation with our equivalent operation in France)
- the London and Glasgow Underground systems and other metro systems
- tramways
- heritage railways (including narrow-gauge systems over 350mm gauge)
- cable-hauled systems of 1km or longer.

In this context, a serious accident means an accident involving a derailment or collision of rolling stock which has an obvious impact on railway safety regulation or management of safety and results in either:
- the death of at least one person
- serious injuries to five or more persons, or
- extensive damage to rolling stock, the infrastructure or the environment.

There is no requirement to investigate these accidents if they fall outside of RAIB^s general aim to improve the safety of railways and to prevent railway accidents and incidents.

Importantly, the Act provides for RAIB to investigate other accidents and incidents occurring on railway property that are or may be relevant to the operation of the railway, and where we believe there may be significant safety lessons to be learnt which could improve the safety of railways.

RAIB does not investigate:
- worker accidents/incidents that are not associated with train movements and which are not relevant to the operation of the railway
- accidents/incidents involving trespassers or suicides, or
- accidents/incidents that occur within an industrial curtilage, unless it involves a train carrying passengers.

(My highlighting. CfN.)

[bobm]

Being loco hauled I assumme that the Central Door Locking does not interface with the loco as it would on a Multiple Unit.

No it doesn't. Same applies to an HST^▸ (High Speed Train). Largely I suspect because it was retro-fitted.

The orange lights will go out when the Central Door Locking is engaged. That can still happen with a door wide open or just on the catch. The driver can also still physically take power without the CDL^▸ (Central Door Locking) engaged - although operating instructions make it an unwise move!

[Surrey 455]

Er, sorry, What is a WAG^» (Welsh Assembly Government - about) express? It's not in the abbreviations section. It's quite obviously nothing to do with the defunct West Anglia Great Northern (WAGN). Is it a train where Wives And Girlfriends visit Cardiff for a day of extravagant spending and pampering?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Fair comment.  'WAG^» (Welsh Assembly Government - about)' stands for Welsh Assembly Government: I'll add it to our list of acronyms. 

[JayMac]

And my apologies also. I started the topic with 'WAG^» (Welsh Assembly Government - about) Express' in the title.

In 2008, the Welsh Assembly Government issued a tender for a North Wales to South Wales (and return) premier rail service (over and above the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Govt. DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) tendered Wales rail franchise, which only offers Standard Class DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) services across the Principality), ostensibly to provide business and political commuters with a train service of high quality to get them to and from Cardiff in one day, with sufficient time in between to conduct business. It was deemed necessary particularly for North Wales based Assembly Members to be able to attend Assembly. Arriva Trains Wales won the tender, offering a loco-hauled service of Mk2^▸ (Mark 2 coach)/Mk3 carriages (now exclusively Mk3) between Holyhead and Cardiff. It may seem obvious that they won, but there were other competitive bids.

An air service between Anglesey and Cardiff is also tendered and subsidised by the Welsh Assembly Government.

As the rail service was tendered by, and subsidised by the Welsh Assembly Government, it quickly earned the sobriquet WAG Express. When launched it was given the name of Y Gerallt Gymro (Gerald of Wales) but that has since been dropped and today it is officially known as Arriva Trains Wales' Premier Service.

Colloquially it is referred to as WAG or Gerald. The air service is sometimes referred to as WAGair.

The political reasons for these services are outwith discussion on this thread. Much more can be read with Google searches of "WAG Express", "Y Gerallt Gymro", "Intra-Wales Air Service", and similar.

Back to doors falling off trains...

[Chris from Nailsea]

Back to doors falling off trains...

... which we'd rather prefer they didn't, for fairly obvious reasons. 

[eightf48544]

There's me thinking it was for "Wives and Girlfriends" of Welsh Assembly members.