Abergavenney - services and incidents (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[SandTEngineer]

Bit strange this one....

Three people have been injured after a train hit overhead power lines at a Monmouthshire station.

They were hit by the falling cables at Abergavenny after the lines were disrupted by an Arriva Trains Wales service travelling from Holyhead at about 18:00 BST.

The three were taken to hospital but have since been discharged with minor bruising, Network Rail said.
Arriva Trains Wales said services had been severely disrupted as a result.
A statement on Arriva's website said: "Due to a fault with line side equipment at Abergavenny, services along this route are severely disrupted.

"Long distance customers (i.e. Cardiff to/from Manchester) intending to use this line are advised to use alternative routes via Birmingham.
"Customers wishing to travel to destinations on this line in the local area (i.e. Hereford) are advised to seek alternative transport as rail replacement buses will be very limited.

"Arriva Trains Wales regrets the inconvenience caused and assures customers that everything is being done to resolve the situation as rapidly as possible."

Network Rail said the line towards Hereford had reopened and it hoped the station would reopen on Saturday morning.

[JayMac]

I'm assuming these were National Grid power lines that had fouled the loading gauge. Perhaps a pole had tilted, affected by weather.

[SandTEngineer]

This was posted on the WNXX^▸ (Stored Unserviceable, Mainline Locos HQ All Classes) forum:

It was the class 67 on 1W96 that caught on cable(s) hanging down from the footbridge, bringing down more cables and its metal troughing.

So it looks like the people who were injured may have been waiting on the station platform.  Wonder what NR^» (Network Rail - home page) will have to say about it or is it a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) issue....

[grahame]

From the South Waled Argus

TRAIN lines have re-opened at Abergavenny train station.

The Argus previously reported that rail passengers were being advised not to travel in parts of Gwent due to a fault with line side equipment.

Arriva Trains Wales had said the fault is at Abergavenny station and that services along the route had been severely disrupted.

According to a tweet today by National Rail the line has now re-opened.

Interesting to read the "double speak" used to describe the problem. 

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm.

Is this perhaps an incident which should be reported to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch?

That's an open question, by the way - depending, apparently, upon the potential consequences of such a failure in the infrastructure.

[SandTEngineer]

Here are the current (as of 31/07/2017) investigations listed on the RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) website:

Not all accidents and incidents are investigated. If the event is not listed here we may have already published our report or safety digest or it may be that we have decided not to investigate.

Date of occurrence   Description of accident/incident   Current status   Web entry updated
07 07 2017   Explosion inside an equipment case, Guildford   Investigating   -
29 06 2017   Dangerous occurrence at Broad Oak level crossing   Safety digest   -
22 06 2017   Dangerous occurrence on the South Devon Railway   Investigating   -
01 06 2017   Fatal accident at Trenos footpath crossing   Investigating   -
28 05 2017   Trailer runaway near Hope   Investigating   -
21 04 2017   Near miss between Audley End and Great Chesterford   Safety digest   -
15 04 2017   Dangerous occurrence near Kirkham   Safety digest   -
20 03 2017   Freight train derailment, East Somerset Junction   Investigating   -
28 02 2017   Track worker near miss incidents at Camden Junction South   Investigating   -
28 02 2017   Partial collapse of a wall onto open railway lines, Liverpool   Investigating   -
06 02 2017   Platform-train interface incident at Bank station   Investigating   -
24 01 2017   Freight train derailment, Lewisham   Investigating   -
29 12 2016   Serious irregularity at Cardiff East Junction   Investigating   -
22 12 2016   Fatal collision between a tram and a pedestrian, Sheffield   Investigating   -
09 11 2016   Fatal tram accident in Croydon   Interim report 2   20/02/17
05 10 2016   Fatal accident at Alice Holt level crossing   Investigating   -
16 09 2016   Derailment and collision, Watford tunnel   Consulting   -

[SandTEngineer]

There is a bit more news which I have quoted without correction 

There is a photograph here: http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/resources/images/6650771/?type=responsive-gallery-fullscreen

Georgia Davies, 17, were at the station with three of her friends just shortly before 6pm on July 28, when cables and debris fell on to passengers on the platform as a train went through the station.

"I think the cables were hanging low and something on the top of the train got caught in them, pulling them down along with some metal from the bridge,” said Miss Davies.

“Two other people were hit by the cabling. I was left with a lump on my head and pain in my back and arm. The other two were left with bruises and pain in their legs and arms.”

The 17-year-old said that one of her friends was almost hit by a red bin, which smashed into a window at the station during the melee, and another friend’s umbrella and bag became tangled in cables.

She and two of her other friends were hit by cables on their heads, arms and legs.

“The staff gave no explanation for what happened,” said Miss Davies.

“I no longer want to use that train station and I'm avoiding using train for a while now."

The 49-year-old said: “When I arrived I was disappointed that the guy on the station had evacuated the platform then locked himself in the station.

“At no point had he checked for casualties or if anyone required medical assistance, in his words "no-one had approached him to say they were hurt”.

“Also I am disappointed that he had left four teenage girls stranded without means to get home from Abergavenny and when they asked for a refund for a taxi they were told to come back another day.”

Mr Davies added: “My daughter had a ‘strike’ mark on her clothing and on her arm, back and head as well.

“She had a visible lump on her head and has felt sick with headaches.

“As an ex-paramedic I monitored her for concussion throughout the night and spoke to the British Transport Police about the incident.

“The guy at the station took my details at the time and told me someone would phone me soon, but no one did, in fact when I contacted Arriva the following day they had no record of my request which again was disappointing.”

A spokeswoman for National Rail, who maintain the line at Abergavenny, said that the overhead power lines came down and the station was shut from 6pm to allow engineers to make repairs.

She added that one of the railway lines was re-opened at 8pm before the station was fully operational by the following Saturday morning.

The spokeswoman said that some passengers waiting at the station sustained minor injuries, notably bruising, as a result of the incident

[grahame]

From the Rail Accident Investigation Branch
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dangerous-occurrence-at-abergavenny-station

Dangerous occurrence at Abergavenny station

At around 18:05 hrs on 28 July 2017, as a northbound train entered Abergavenny station, a cable hanging from the station footbridge became caught on the roof of the train. The cable had an outside diameter of approximately 25 mm and supplied electrical power to a nearby signal box. It was connected to a local mains supply point, housed in a cabinet adjacent to platform 1, and crossed the railway by attachment to the footbridge.

The motion of the train dragged the cable and caused it to be pulled from its remaining fixings. Damage was caused to the station buildings, to the train and to other equipment on the station. The cable was pulled by the train until it broke, after which it recoiled back. The recoiling cable caused minor injuries and shock to a number of people at the station.

Our investigation will identify the sequence of events that led to the accident. It will also consider

* how the fixings of the cable had degraded to the point where the cable was hanging low enough to come into contact with a train
* processes used by Network Rail to ensure the safety of equipment which is attached to structures on the railway
* processes used by railway staff and station tenants to report defects which could pose a hazard to safe train operation
*any relevant underlying management factors
Our investigation is independent of any investigation by the railway industry or by the industry’s regulator, the Office of Rail and Road.

We will publish our findings, including any recommendations to improve safety, at the conclusion of our investigation. This report will be available on our website.

[broadgage]

This is being discussed on an electrical forum.

https://www.theiet.org/forums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=205&threadid=105800&enterthread=y

It seems probable that the cable in question was fixed via plastic cable ties, these last indefinitely indoors but have a limited life outdoors.

[stuving]

This is being discussed on an electrical forum.

https://www.theiet.org/forums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=205&threadid=105800&enterthread=y

It seems probable that the cable in question was fixed via plastic cable ties, these last indefinitely indoors but have a limited life outdoors.

That discussion follows the publication of the RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) report, which does indeed identify the failed cable fixings as nylon cable ties.

I was puzzled by the unqualified use of "cable tray" for the perforated metal sections the cable was tied to. To my mind a tray is horizontal by definition. I know the word is used in BS7671 for this case of a horizontal cable run on a vertical metal support, but that is about cooling (in installation method 11, now 31) not mechanical support. Those metal sections are also called "cable tray" in catalogues, but that's not the issue - the requirements for support are defined for a vertical or a horizontal surface.

But the other striking feature of this report is the cable, not inspected by network rail nor by Arriva Trains Wales; both assumed the other did it. That does remind you of the track at Wimbledon, doesn't it?

[infoman]

refering to the ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) from Bristol to Hereford,

and when did it cease,

and was there any reason why it was stopped calling at Abergavenny?