RAIB bulletin on train leaving Liverpool Street with doors open (4 Feb 2010)

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) bulletin, which is available on their website:

The incident

1. A passenger train left Liverpool Street station with all the doors on one side of the train open, and travelled 500 metres before being stopped.

2. The incident occurred on 4 February 2010. The 08:33 hrs service from Liverpool Street to Chingford, an 8-coach electric train formed of units 317505 and 317508, departed on time. As it left platform one, the dispatcher on the platform observed that the doors of the train were still open. She tried to attract the attention of the driver by blowing a whistle, but was unsuccessful.

3. The dispatcher telephoned the signalling centre at Liverpool Street and told the signaller what had happened. The signaller used signals to stop the train at the second signal out of the station on the Down Suburban line, and spoke to the driver over the Cab Secure Radio system.

4. While the train was moving out of the station, one of the approximately twenty passengers on the train closed some of the open doors using the buttons in the vestibules, and then went to the front of the train and spoke to the driver as the train came to a stop.

5. After confirming what had happened with the passenger and the signaller, the driver secured the doors, changed ends and drove the train back into the same platform at Liverpool Street station.

6. There were no injuries, and no damage was caused in the incident.

[JayMac]

I take it 317s are DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard))?

Is there no form of interlocking to prevent traction power being applied if the doors are open?

[IndustryInsider]

I take it 317s are DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard))?

Is there no form of interlocking to prevent traction power being applied if the doors are open?

There is.  It was isolated.  From the report...

When the train was examined after the incident, the traction interlock switch (TIS^‡(resolve))
in the country (north) end cab of unit 317505 was found to be in the ^cut out^
(isolated) position. The TIS is located on the cab bulkhead behind the driver^s
seat, and is one of a row of three switches. The other two switches in the row
control lights in the gangway and vestibule adjacent to the cab (figure 1). This
meant that it was possible for the driver to apply power to move the train although
the doors were not closed and locked. The rule book (module TW5 section 33.1)
prohibits a train from entering service from a maintenance depot (such as Ilford)
if the TIS is unsealed or isolated. Section 33.2 of module TW5 prohibits a train
from entering service from somewhere other than a maintenance depot (such as
Chingford sidings) if the TIS is isolated.

[JayMac]

Thanks for that II. I was unable to look at the report earlier - was having .pdf issues following an update.

It appears that there were a series of minor operational errors that led to the train pulling off in an unsafe state.