Car hit by train at Athelney Level Crossing - man killed - 21 March 2013

[whole diary]

[Super Guard]

Line problem: between Taunton and Castle Cary. Owing to a problem at a level crossing between Taunton and Castle Cary all lines are blocked.

Impact:
Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 90 mins or diverted at short notice. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.

Customer Advice:
Very limited road transport has been sourced to operate between Taunton and Westbury in both directions calling at Castle Cary. Customers travelling to/from London from/to Devon & Cornwall are to travel via Bristol Temple Meads.

South West Trains services are conveying passengers between Exeter St Davids and London Waterloo in both directions until further notice. Arrangements have been made for First Great Western rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.

Cross Country services are conveying passengers between Bristol Temple Meads and Penzance in both directions until further notice. Arrangements have been made for First Great Western rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.

0546 Exeter-Paddington hit a car at Athelney Level Crossing (auto-half barrier).

All on-board ok, other services to/from Exeter & SW being diverted via Bristol.

[broadgage]

Slightly more detailed report here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-21873451

Edit to add, later reports state car driver dead, car stuck under train, train driver stated to be shaken but unhurt.

[broadgage]

Initial reports suggest that "the barriers were lowered and the car driver attempted to weave around them"

SOURCE is a statement by BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) on the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) news website.

[bobm]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have lifted all ticket restrictions for West of England services for the rest of the day. Tickets dated today valid on any service.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From that BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News item:

A First Great Western spokesman said the two drivers on the train were both shocked by what happened.

[swrural]

Two things I noticed.

Only 37 pax on board.

Car pushed half a mile down track.

Do colleagues have a good knowledge of whether max speed would have been reached (from Taunton stop) and what that max at that point is?

Thanks.

[James Vertigan]

Image from This Is Somerset website

Can't quite make out the powercar number.

(EDIT: On a slightly closer inspection, looks like 43134).

[Super Guard]

Two things I noticed.

Only 37 pax on board.

Car pushed half a mile down track.

Do colleagues have a good knowledge of whether max speed would have been reached (from Taunton stop) and what that max at that point is?

Thanks.

This service is generally not too busy until Pewsey, pretty full from Hungerford and standing from Newbury.  Monday-Wednesday are busier days.

Max line-speed is 90mph at Cogload Junction, and then 100mph by the crossing.  I expect they were going 90+.

PC was 43138.

[swrural]

Many thanks SG.  I might have guessed that speed, but good to have it confirmed.  It will be interesting to see how well the diverted services perform via TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) (sadly not SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)) now they cut off the cut-off, unless going via Badminton).  I do remember such a diverted train getting to Reading in advance of what it was timetabled to do via Westbury!  It's much the same with the M4 M5 combination, quicker than A30 /A303 /M3.

   

[James Vertigan]

Correction: Turns out it was 43138 - not 43134 (thanks to a driver friend)

[swrural]

How's this for quick response!

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P00044/2013/03/21/advanced

Note the 4 minute late arrival at PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains).  Perhaps Taunton (and west of there) pax for PAD would wish it always went that way!  The Great Way Round indeed. 

I note that there were hardly any cancellations and not much lateness either, well done everyone.

Sympathies go to all who were faced with the collision.

[Southern Stag]

How's this for quick response!

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P00044/2013/03/21/advanced

Note the 4 minute late arrival at PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains).  Perhaps Taunton (and west of there) pax for PAD would wish it always went that way!  The Great Way Round indeed. 

Most Reading and London passengers would normally change at Taunton for the service behind, which overtakes that one at Westbury, arriving into London at 0900. Today it didn't arrive until 0931 though.

[bobm]

Line re-opened through Athelney around 4pm.

[JayMac]

The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News item now has a video report and a picture of the car involved. Other news outlets also have more pictures and reports from the incident scene:

BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-21873451

Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2296788/Motorist-killed-high-speed-London-bound-train-hits-car-level-crossing-barriers-shunts-mile-tracks.html

Western Daily Press: http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Athelney-level-crossing-train-crash-video/story-18483850-detail/story.html#axzz2OC69LY9M

From the Press Association:


 

[TonyK]

Image from This Is Somerset website

Can't quite make out the powercar number.

(EDIT: On a slightly closer inspection, looks like 43134).

Photo on Yahoo is much clearer. It is 43138.